Ravi Gupta
- Growth
“When a founder is down I show them the Instacart board deck from November 2015. I say, ‘Is it worse than this? There's no way! We came back from this. So can you.’”
Backstory
I didn’t know anything about technology when I graduated from college. I grew up in Chicago. I was an econ major. I was totally an outsider to it. Once we moved to California, though, there was this incredible energy. I wanted to be a part of that. So I pushed hard to find a way to work at Instacart. I’m so glad I did.
Sequoia’s approach reminds me of the way I grew up—my parents did not choose between being demanding or supportive. They were both.
My grandfather came to the U.S. from India in 1957. He left five kids and my grandmother. He was 35 and upended his whole life because he saw the possibility for something better. Three years later, he brought my grandmother and his youngest daughter, and left my dad and his brothers in India. I think about my grandfather as the founder of our extended family. His decision impacted everything in my life, my parents’ lives, and my children’s lives. There is an obligation—you have to honor the fact that someone did that. I think about that a lot.
On the lookout for
What am I on the lookout for? One is a founder that captures my imagination. Two is a market that I believe will be much different tomorrow than it is today. Three would be some traction or a unique insight that demonstrates there’s a kernel that’s working. It could be one customer who says, “I couldn’t live without this.” The reason I went to work at Instacart was that when I asked my wife what she thought of it, she said, “If you wanted to move, I wouldn’t go unless Instacart delivered to our new house.” That was crazy—I couldn’t stop thinking about that. Each company I’ve invested in on behalf of Sequoia has something like that that I can’t stop thinking about.
I have been lucky to be involved in companies across industries—consumer and enterprise, fintech and crypto. More than anything, what I look for is someone I want to talk to at 10:30 at night if they have a problem. Instacart gave me empathy for the ups and downs. It is so easy to say what somebody should do—and so hard to do it. Businesses are not numbers on a page. They are a collection of people going after a shared mission.
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Press & Media
Current Companies
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Acelerate's marketplace helps restaurateurs run additional services from their existing kitchens.Current Stage
Early
Partners-
Ravi Gupta,
Isaiah BoonePartnered In2021
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Faire is the leading wholesale marketplace, connecting independent retailers and brands all over the world.Current Stage
Growth
Partners-
Alfred Lin,
Ravi GuptaPartnered In2017
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Fireblocks is an all-in-one platform for storing, transferring and issuing digital assets.Current Stage
Growth
Partners-
Ravi Gupta,
Michelle BailhePartnered In2021
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Front is reinventing shared inboxes for customer-driven teams.Current Stage
Growth
Partners-
Bryan Schreier,
Andrew Reed,
Ravi GuptaPartnered In2017
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Getir is the pioneer of 10-minute grocery delivery.Current Stage
Growth
Partners-
Michael Moritz,
Michelle Bailhe,
Luciana Lixandru,
Ravi GuptaPartnered In2021
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Instacart facilitates instant grocery delivery from local stores.Current Stage
Growth
Partners-
Michael Moritz,
Alfred Lin,
Ravi GuptaPartnered In2013
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Noom is the world's leading behavior change company focused on weight loss.Current Stage
Growth
Partner-
Ravi Gupta
Partnered In2019
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Remote helps companies manage international workforces.Current Stage
Growth
Partner-
Ravi Gupta
Partnered In2020
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Vise is an AI-powered portfolio management platform.Current Stage
Growth
Partners-
Shaun Maguire,
Ravi GuptaPartnered In2019
Enduring Companies
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Amplitude is an analytics platform that enables organizations to see and predict which combination of features and actions translate to business outcomes.Current Stage
IPO
Partners-
Pat Grady,
Sonya Huang,
Ravi GuptaPartnered In2018