Empty fridge to $1 billion: Apoorva Mehta's story behind Instacart

An empty fridge that led to $1 billion net worth, sometimes ‘nothing’ can lead to everything. Apoorva Mehta, founder of Instacart, shared on social media his eureka moment for the largest grocery delivery service in the United States. 

Mehta reflected on a time in 2012 when he encountered a typical household problem: an empty refrigerator.

“The only thing I had in my refrigerator was hot sauce. I could shop for everything online except groceries. That was a lightbulb moment for me, and I got started coding the first version of the Instacart App.” he wrote. 

He saw a clear market gap in the difficulty to conveniently buy groceries online. This light bulb moment led Mehta to work on his startup that eventually evolved into America's largest grocery delivery company. Mehta had worked on 20 startup ideas before coming up with the idea of Instacart.

Apoorva Mehta, an Indian native, first resided in Libya before relocating to Canada. He studied engineering at the University of Waterloo and worked as an engineer at Blackberry, Qualcomm, and Amazon before leaving his job in pursuit of his business goals

“My empty refrigerator was an ongoing problem - and a source of inspiration. It was 2012 and I could shop for everything online except groceries. That was a lightbulb moment for me, and I got started coding the first version of the Instacart App. Today, the company I founded in my kitchen is now publicly traded ($CART)! I’m immensely grateful to the team that built Instacart. I also want to thank the hard-working community of shoppers, our incredible customers, our retail and CPG partners and our CEO Fidji Simo,” he wrote on his social media accounts after Instacart became a publicly traded company.

Apoorva Mehta made a fortune of $1 billion after the company's IPO.

People found the post to be quite inspiring and congratulated Mehta for his brilliant idea.