From a young age, Apoorva Mehta had always been fascinated with technology. He was thrilled about computers, how they worked, and the capabilities of the internet. As a kid, he wanted to know a thing or two about every aspect of technology in hopes of eventually figuring out what he wanted to do with his life after college. Apoorva worked in a couple of technology firms and even a steel factory at a time before he eventually landed a job in one of the biggest e-commerce outfits in the world. It was during his stay here that he really came to understand what he wanted to live his life doing and he did set out to pursue it with verve.
Though Apoorva didn’t have it all rosy when he took his first steps as an entrepreneur, he has over the years proved his mettle and today owns one of the most successful same-day grocery delivery and pick-up service companies operating in the United States of America and Canada with more opportunities to expand. Here is an account of how it all came to be.
Apoorva Mehta Biography
Apoorva Mehta was born many years ago in India. The year and exact place of his birth is yet to be made available to the media. Moreso, details about his early education in terms of what schools he went to and what subjects he excelled in are not known. However, considering the revelations that have been made about his fascination with science from way back in time, the tech entrepreneur might have spent ample time involved in and doing things that were unconventional to kids of his age.
When it was time for college, Apoorva enrolled at the University of Waterloo where he began pursuing a degree in Engineering. In 2008, the would-be entrepreneur graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering. Afterward, Apoorva Mehta embarked on a journey of self-discovery working in various organizations before he found out what he was truly passionate about, thus, he took the first step in the next phase of his life.
Apoorva Mehta First worked as a design engineer at Qualcomm and later at Blackberry. From here, he landed a job with the e-commerce giant Amazon.com as a Fulfillment Optimization SDE or supply chain engineer. He worked on Amazon’s Fulfillment Engine to deliver packages quickly and efficiently from Amazon’s warehouses to customers’ doors. It was during his time in this job that Apoorva discovered what he really loved doing; he loved to build software and also loved working in a challenging environment. For 2 years, Mehta worked for Amazon but over time, the work got increasingly boring and repetitive for him, thus he quit.
After he left Amazon, Mehta began trying his hands-on setting up something for himself. During this time, he tried about 20 start-up ideas but they all failed. Some of such failed start-ups are Groupon for food and a social networking site for lawyers called LegaReach. All these failed startups had one thing in common, Mehta never really cared about them or the problems which he was trying to solve with them. Nevertheless, he learned his lessons and remained poised.
Not long after in 2012, the idea of ordering groceries online and having someone deliver them dawned on him. As Apoorva Mehta thought deeper about this concept, he was convinced that the idea would be a profitable venture considering the fact that many businesses (start-ups) were operating online and recording huge successes rendering one service or the other. It was also a time when people were spending more time online on their mobile devices, getting comfortable with online payments, and are always willing to try out new online services.
In this same year, Apoorva Mehta started Instacart in the San Francisco Bay Area. The company soon expanded the scope of its coverage to 15 cities in 2014, in 2016 they were visibly present in the North Chicago Zone, Orange County, and Minneapolis. Apoorva has since then grown the company further to cover more states in the U.S and Canada with over 300 full-time employees and thousands more as part-time grocery shoppers.
Family – Is Apoorva Mehta Married?
At the moment, there are no available records on whether Apoorva Mehta is married or not. Much of the pieces of information relating to how he spends his personal life are few and far between. Perhaps, in the course of time, we might have something new to tell you about him in this regard.
Other Facts About The Instacart Founder
Net Worth and Forbes Listing
In the year 2016, Apoorva Mehta was listed on Forbes America’s Richest Entrepreneurs Under 40 as number 32 with a net worth of about $360 million. In 2017, the Instacart founder was also on Forbe’s 30 Under 30 – All-Star Alumni list.
Lawsuit
Apoorva’s climb to the top hasn’t been free of challenges. The company through a class action lawsuit was made to pay the sum of $4.6 million as a result of misclassifying its shopper employees as independent contractors when they are not. The company, however, now has shoppers that are part-time employees with some receiving health benefits.
Apoorva Mehta’s Social Media Presence
The Instacart founder and CEO have a presence on social media, he has been on Twitter since August 2010 and you can follow him via the handle @apoorva_mehta.
