University of Waterloo alum and former Instacart CEO Apoorva Mehta has been transitioning out of the food-delivery firm as it prepares to go public. His new venture, Cloud Health Systems, plans to offer medical consultation and other health services. The round reportedly valued the firm at US$200 million and included funding from Thrive Capital and Greenoaks Capital, a venture firm that has backed discount trading platform Robinhood. (The Wall Street Journal)
Talking point: Instacart has been plotting its IPO for years, but hasn’t managed to pull it off. Others operating in the low-margin food-delivery business, like Uber and Doordash, have struggled on the public markets. In addition to operating in a tough market, investors and Instacart gig workers have previously said the company’s culture, and Mehta in particular, may have hampered the firm’s efforts. Still, at Instacart Mehta proved his ability to secure billions in venture capital and scale a company quickly, which gives him a fundraising edge in a down market.