Can your shopping cart get stocked online? It sure can - Instacart makes sure of it!

Online shopping made a huge hit as social media became more popular. Amazon or other big-selling platforms became empires through online shopping. But, what about online grocery shopping? That's more than necessary, but is it doable?

Of course, it is doable! said Apoorva Mehta, the founder of Instacart. Apoorva was an ex-Amazon employee, and he realized he wanted to create something meaningful. And that's how he created Instacart.

Instacart is an online selling grocery shopping platform where users get a personal shopper to check their grocery list. The personal shopper goes from market to market to pick fresh groceries for you. Such food quality brought great success for the company.

Before getting to this point in Life, Apoorva had to fail 20 times, but the 21st was the charm. It's a long journey, that will inspire you to do more, so stay tuned and get all the deets.

The Nomad Child

Apoorva Mehta was born in 1986 in India. He had somewhat of a nomad childhood because he moved to Libya sometime after he was born. Apoorva lived there up to his 14th year, and afterward, his family moved to Canada.

People claim frequent moving is not good for a child, not in their teenage years, at least. But, that wasn't the case for Apoorva. He learned so much from every place he had lived in.

Being a curious child, Apoorva made friends in every country he lived in. However, the one constant that stayed with him anywhere he went was the thirst for knowledge. Young Apoorva was quite interested in technology, so when the time to choose a university came, it was a no-brainer for him, since Apoorva had already everything thought through.

Dreaming Big in College

Apoorva enrolled in the electrical engineering program at Waterloo University. He was the bright student that seemed to be passing the exams, seamlessly. Apoorva graduated with a Bachelor's degree and was extremely eager to start working.

The first job Apoorva landed was as a design engineer at Blackberry and Qualcomm afterward. Working for two reputable companies provided Apoorva with the opportunity to learn from the best. Enthusiastic Apoorva was amazed by start-ups and entrepreneurs and wanted to learn something more about the promising business.

So, what's better than to learn from Jeff Besos. After Qualcomm, Apoorva got a job at Amazon. Of course, he didn't have tutor classes with Mr. Besos, but the sole fact that he was at Amazon ensured Apoorva with valuable and practical entrepreneurial tips and tricks he'll remember forever.

Inspired by the fast-growing Amazon company, Apoorva decided to start something on his own and left his position at Amazon.

Reality Hits

After Apoorva left Amazon, he moved to San Francisco. So, it’s 2010, and Apoorva launched his first startup, which ended not so gracefully.

However, geared up on motivation, Apoorva didn't give up and made yet a second startup, but failed once again. Startup launches kept on happening, but nothing happened - failure persisted.

Can you guess how many times had Apoorva slammed the ground before finally moving up? Twenty - he had to fail twenty times until something viable had been made.

So, fast-forward to 2012, Apoorva launched his first-ever successful company, Instacart.

However, Instacart had a sketchy yet comic beginning. Persistent to make Instacart work, Apoorva messed up the beginning, and he messed up well. So let's see how it all began with Instacart.

Anything but a Quiter

Although Apoorva failed to launch the startups he believed so much in, his ability to detect windows for improvement was endless. He noticed that retail businesses had already shifted parts of their business online, and struck gold, sort of speaking.

However, the world of grocery shopping was still stagnant and tapping in place. So, Apoorva decided to code a program enabling people to be able to order groceries straight from their homes or wherever they are. Although Apoorva knew it won't be easy at the beginning, he set himself a deadline for finishing the project.

Although Apoorva was the mastermind behind Instacart, he didn’t start the company on his own, but with the help of fellow co-founders Max Mullen and Brandon Leonardo. Beer Opens Every Door

Apoorva founded Instacart in 2012, yes, but, let’s rewind to the time he had to land the investors.

So, earlier in 2012, Apoorva wanted to get funding through Y Combinator, but he missed the deadline. Can you imagine? After failing his startups, this came as the cherry on top.

But, instead of giving up, Apoorva played on the strategy card - he sent his Y Combinator partner a pack of beer through his grocery delivery service. Eventually, he impressed the investors and got the meeting which ended up good. Apoorva got the money he needed and started building his own company, from the grounds up. Instacart Stands for Instant Cart Delivery

Instacart is accessible through a website and a mobile app where users can shop for groceries instantly. It's where it got the name from. What separates Instacart from other grocery stores is that it doesn't store stocks of fresh produce in a warehouse or basements.

Instacart features a personal shopper, a person employed to go around and get everything on your list. Thus, customers can order from different stores that Instacart collaborates with, like Kroger, Costco, or Shaws.

After the designated personal shopper gets everything on the list, they pass the items onto the part-time employees who do the delivery. Delivery employees take it from there and leave it at your doorstep.

Everything is well-planned, and how can it not be, since Apoorva had failed 20 times before. Jokes aside, Instacart made it a number one delivery service in America.

Nowadays, Instacart processes millions of orders, picked and delivered annually over 500 million products to shop across the catalog, and over 5,500 locations where Instacart’s delivery service is available.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Side of Corona Virus

No one anticipated the pandemic outbreak. However, with all the lockdowns and social distancing, delivery services were peaking.

The good side of the chaos the company has felt was the severe increase in funding, but the bad side of the increase in the company was that it burnt off the personal shoppers.

Thus, to make the work more bearable as demand rose during this period, Instacart hired an additional 300,000 workers. Due to the worldwide crisis, Instacart failed to manage the balance between the working force and the demand.

And suddenly, the bad side turned ugly - Instacart failed to pay up the workers, and soon, it was all over the internet reviews.

But, with good planning and concise business models, Instacart got back up among customers’ favorites, earning back the trust it had lost.

Stocking up on Funds

Sequoia Capital, Fidelity Management and Research Company, D1 Capital Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, T. Rowe Price, and DST Global are among the lead investors that backed up Instacart.

The total funding of the company revolves around a whopping $2.7 billion. Instacart made deals with over 40,000 local stores and serves around 5,500 cities around the US and Canada. Hear Ye, Hear Ye! We're Going to IPO!

With all the numbers and scores, Instacart has yet another piece of news to share. As of 2022, they plan to do an initial public offering aka, IPO. The company plans to follow the best business model that will help it gather the needed funds to raise monetary stability on a different level.

To make this plan possible, Instacart hired a new CEO, Fidji Simo, to push the company from private to public. Instacart has the utmost confidence in Fidji, and they believe that 2022 will be the year the world will experience a revelation in grocery shopping.

Instacart, Today

From $2.3 million in seed round, Instacart managed to multiply it by 300 and raise $600 million in Series F. That was its highest score and a huge milestone that the company’s hit.

Headquartered in San Francisco, with a few employees in the very beginning, now, Instacart counts over 12,000 employees under its wing. Besides Instacart’s business triumph on multiple fields, the company successfully sheds off the competition coming from its rivals - BlueApron, Fresh Direct, and Cornershop.

As for the future, Instacart’s goal is to expand its culture of fresh grocery delivery to much more homes than today, changing grocery shopping for the better.