Instacart Appoints Facebook’s Fidji Simo As CEO

Instacart has turned to Facebook in its search for a new chief executive as it prepares for an expected initial public offering (IPO).

Fidji Simo, one of the highest-ranking female executives at the mammoth social media company, will become Instacart’s new CEO effective Aug. 2, according to a Thursday (July 8) announcement.

She’ll replace current CEO and founder Apoorva Mehta, who invited Simo to the board of the online grocery delivery giant earlier this year. Mehta, who will step into a new role as executive chairman, praised Simo’s credentials in a statement.

“Over the last decade at Facebook, she’s been a part of every big moment in the company’s history including helping it grow from 1,000 to nearly 100,000 people and leading the world’s most popular app,” Mehta said. “Fidji was also at Facebook during its transition from a private company to the public market and understands what it takes to lead and scale a transformational company like Instacart.”

Instacart’s recent “transformations” include an apparent push to build a nationwide chain of automated fulfillment centers, populated by robots responsible for collecting non-perishable items and human workers handling deli products and fruits and vegetables. Some of these facilities would be part of existing supermarkets, while larger, standalone outposts would handle orders for multiple locations.

Prior to joining Instacart, Simo served as vice president and head of the Facebook app, and also oversaw the development and strategy for the app, including features like Stories, Groups, Video, Ads and more. She also helped lead Facebook’s mobile monetization strategy and advertising business.

Earlier this year, Instacart named former Goldman Sachs executive Nick Giovanni as its new chief financial officer. Goldman is leading Instacart’s reported IPO, and Giovanni used his time there to help shepherd some of the largest financial deals and public offerings of the past two decades for companies like Airbnb and DoorDash as well as direct listing for Slack and Spotify.