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Instacart taps M&A/IPO specialist Nick Giovanni as CFO

Goldman Sachs veteran to succeed departing Sagar Sanghvi at online grocery giant

Russell Redman

January 8, 2021

4 Min Read
Instacart_personal_shopper_grocery_0.jpg
News surfaced in November that Instacart was gearing up for a possible IPO in 2021 and enlisted Goldman Sachs — where new CFO Nick Giovanni spent 20 years — to lead the offering.Instacart

Amid industry buzz of an impending initial public offering, Instacart has named Goldman Sachs veteran Nick Giovanni to succeed Sagar Sanghvi as chief financial officer.

Plans call for Giovanni to take the CFO reins on Jan. 27, San Francisco-based Instacart said yesterday. Sanghvi, a former associate at investment bank KKR & Co., has served as Instacart’s CFO since August 2019 and, after a transition period, is reportedly leaving the company to return to investing.

Nick Giovanni-Instacart.jpgGiovanni (left) will oversee finance, accounting and corporate development at Instacart and report directly to founder and CEO Apoorva Mehta. The company emphasized his deal-making experience in over 20 years at investment bank Goldman Sachs, where he advised clients on hundreds of financing, strategic and investing transactions. Those included some of the largest financial transactions and public offerings of the last two decades, for companies such as Airbnb, DoorDash, Square, Twitter, Snap, Dropbox, Yelp, Zynga, eBay, Meituan and Baidu, as well as direct listings for Spotify and Slack, Instacart said. 

In addition, Giovanni worked on high-profile merger-and-acquisition deals at Goldman Sachs that “helped reshape industries,” including Slack’s sale to Salesforce, Credit Karma’s sale to Intuit, Spotify’s acquisition of podcast properties, Skype’s sale to Microsoft and Zillow’s purchase of Trulia, Instacart noted.

Related:Report: Instacart planning $30 billion IPO

“As we look ahead, Nick’s finance experience, operational discipline and deep understanding of complex marketplaces like ours will be instrumental to Instacart. He’s regarded as one of the most respected and accomplished technology and internet investment bankers, and he’s played a pivotal role advising some of the world’s most prolific companies, founders and management teams as they’ve scaled from being private companies to global leaders,” Mehta said in a statement. 

“For years, Nick has served as a trusted adviser to Instacart, supporting our business as we’ve grown to become the North American leader in online grocery,” he added. “We’re excited to now welcome him as our new CFO, where he’ll help steer Instacart’s next chapter of growth and strengthen our position as an essential service for consumers, shoppers and partners.”

News surfaced in November that Instacart was gearing up for an IPO and enlisted Goldman Sachs to lead the offering, with a potential launch in early 2021. Reports said the IPO was being accelerated after California voters approved Proposition 22. The ballot measure, supported by companies such as Uber, Lyft and DoorDash, reaffirmed the independent contractor status of app-based “gig economy” workers such as drivers and delivery personnel, which were slated to be classified as employees — receiving full benefits and labor protections — under California Assembly Bill 5.

Related:Instacart bags $200 million in latest financing round

Also in November, last-mile food delivery provider DoorDash filed for an IPO. San Francisco-based DoorDash specializes in restaurant delivery but recently made a bigger foray into on-demand grocery delivery.

Giovanni joined Goldman Sachs in 1998 and most recently served as head of the Global Technology, Media and Telecom Group. He was also a member of Goldman Sachs’ Investment Banking Division Executive Committee and its Investment Banking Division Growth Investing Committee. During his tenure at the investment bank, Giovanni held roles across offices in New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong and San Francisco. 

“Our family has relied on Instacart for years, and I’m thrilled to join the team during such a unique time for the company. Instacart is helping to bring the grocery industry online for consumers, retailers, advertisers and shoppers,” Giovanni commented. “It’s been particularly impressive to watch Instacart successfully scale its operations and technology over the last year during a period of unprecedented growth. Apoorva and the talented management team have built a lasting business in a massive market that’s poised for continued online growth. I look forward to partnering with them as we focus on delivering long-term value for our customers, shoppers and partners.”

Sagar Sanghvi-Instacart.jpgSanghvi (left) has spent more than five years at Instacart, coming the company from KKR in September 2015 as vice president of finance and strategy. He was promoted to CFO nearly four years later. Before a two-year stint as an associate at KKR, Sanghvi spent two years at Goldman Sachs as an analyst.

“We want to thank Sagar for all of his contributions to Instacart over the last five years. During his time at the company, Sagar helped us navigate some of our biggest business milestones while significantly strengthening our financial profile,” Mehta noted. “From building up our financial rigor to helping us successfully scale our business during a year of unprecedented growth, I’m proud of how Sagar and our talented teams effectively managed triple-digit surges in customer order volume, doubled the size of our shopper community and expanded our marketplace to welcome hundreds of new retailers.” 

North America’s largest third-party provider of online grocery services, Instacart partners with more than 500 national, regional and local retailers, offering delivery and pickup from nearly 40,000 stores across more than 5,500 cities. Its services — also including delivery in retail sectors such as home goods, beauty care, convenience, off-price/closeout, office supplies, vitamins and supplements, pharmacy and consumer electronics — are available to 85% of U.S. households and 70% of Canadian households. 

About the Author

Russell Redman

Senior Editor
Supermarket News

Russell Redman has served as senior editor at Supermarket News since April 2018, his second tour with the publication. In his current role, he handles daily news coverage for the SN website and contributes news and features for the print magazine, as well as participates in special projects, podcasts and webinars and attends industry events. Russ joined SN from Racher Press Inc.’s Chain Drug Review and Mass Market Retailers magazines, where he served as desk/online editor for more than nine years, covering the food/drug/mass retail sector. 

Russell Redman’s more than 30 years of experience in journalism span a range of editorial manager, editor, reporter/writer and digital roles at a variety of publications and websites covering a breadth of industries, including retailing, pharmacy/health care, IT, digital home, financial technology, financial services, real estate/commercial property, pro audio/video and film. He started his career in 1989 as a local news reporter and editor, covering community news and politics in Long Island, N.Y. His background also includes an earlier stint at Supermarket News as center store editor and then financial editor in the mid-1990s. Russ holds a B.A. in journalism (minor in political science) from Hofstra University, where he also earned a certificate in digital/social media marketing in November 2016.

Russell Redman’s experience:

Supermarket News - Informa
Senior Editor 
April 2018 - present

Chain Drug Review/Mass Market Retailers - Racher Press
Desk/Online Editor 
Sept. 2008 - March 2018

CRN magazine - CMP Media
Managing Editor
May 2000 - June 2007

Bank Systems & Technology - Miller Freeman
Executive Editor/Managing Editor
Dec. 1996 - May 2000

Supermarket News - Fairchild Publications
Financial Editor/Associate Editor
April 1995 - Dec. 1996 

Shopping Centers Today Magazine - ICSC 
Desk Editor/Assistant Editor
Dec. 1992 - April 1995

Testa Communications
Assistant Editor/Contributing Editor (Music & Sound Retailer, Post, Producer, Sound & Communications and DJ Times magazines)
Jan. 1991 - Dec. 1992 

American Banker/Bond Buyer
Copy Editor
Oct. 1990 - Jan. 1991 

This Week newspaper - Chanry Communications
Reporter/Editor
May 1989 - July 1990

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