Instacart Taps Facebook's Asha Sharma as New COO

Instacart today said it has added another new high-profile executive in Asha Sharma, who joins the online grocery platform as its new chief operating officer later this month.

Sharma, described by Instacart as an “exceptional operator and entrepreneurial project leader” comes to the company from Facebook, where she was VP of product overseeing private communications products across Facebook, Messenger and Instagram. As COO of Instacart, Sharma will oversee the Instacart Marketplace, which includes the Instacart App, Instacart Logistics, Growth and Marketing. She’ll also focus on engaging new and returning customers.

“Instacart has become a fixture in our homes—one of the few products that are essential every single week in the flurry of life, including my own. I’m proud to join the team during such a pivotal time as Instacart continues to change the way people connect with the retailers they trust to get the groceries and goods they need,” Sharma said in a statement. “I’m passionate about working on products that have a real-world impact on people around the world. I believe Instacart has only scratched the surface of what’s possible, and I look forward to working with [Instacart founder and CEO] Apoorva [Mehta] and the team as we focus on developing new experiences that deliver unparalleled value to customers.”

Sharma’s appointment follows the installation of a new chief financial officer, Nick Giovanni, a Goldman Sachs dealmaker who began last week and is expected to help lead the company to a public offering. Other new leaders at Instacart include Christina Hall, a new chief human resources officer who joined from LinkedIn; and Rama Katkar, a new VP of finance, who joined from Credit Karma.

“Solving for the customer is at the core of everything we do at Instacart. We believe that our long-term success will be driven by creating products that exceed customer expectations at every touch point,” Mehta said. “To help achieve that, we’re welcoming an exceptional operator and entrepreneurial product leader in Asha Sharma to serve as our new chief operating officer. Asha’s known for building strong teams in high growth environments and creating product experiences that are beloved by people around the world. I’m excited to welcome her to the team as we focus on unlocking more value for all the communities we serve.”

Sharma’s previous roles at Facebook include VP of product for Messenger, and head of product for Social Impact. She was previously COO of the home-services startup Porch, where she was responsible for the company’s operations, product, growth and marketing efforts. Prior to joining Porch, Sharma worked in marketing and operations at Microsoft.

Instacart calls itself the largest online grocery platform in North America, delivering from more than 45,000 stores across nearly 600 national, regional and local retailers. Aided by the coronavirus pandemic that drove millions of new shoppers to online alternatives, Instacart said its transaction volume in December was up by 300% year over year.