Former Disney CEO Bob Iger Joins Gopuff as Adviser After Investment

Former Disney CEO Bob Iger has invested in delivery startup Gopuff and will join the company as an adviser, according to a Reuters report Wednesday (May 18).

Gopuff delivers home care, medicine, pet care, office supplies, beauty and wellness items. The company did not announce how large an investment Iger made in the platform.

“I believe consumer commerce will be very different in the near future, and Gopuff is building the platform to power it,” said Iger in a statement announcing his investment and adviser role with the company.

Gopuff hired investment banks earlier this year as it got ready to make its initial public offering in the U.S., following the company’s explosion in customers during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when people were quarantined or didn’t want to go out, according to an earlier Reuters report.

The company operates in more than 1,000 cities in the United States and Europe and counts Instacart among its many grocery delivery competitors. Instacart is also planning to go public soon, the report said.

Related: Ex-Disney Chief Invests in NFT Startup Genies

In March, Iger joined the board of Genies after making an investment in the NFT/metaverse startup. He spent 15 years as CEO of Disney — from 2005 to 2020 — before stepping down as chairman in 2021.

Genies offers a 3D avatar and NFT production kit that lets musicians and others create NFT wearables, accessories, tattoos and other limited-edition goods that can serve as their fans’ avatars. Justin Bieber, Rihanna, Lil Nas X, Jennifer Lopez and Cardi B have licensed their likenesses to the company.

Also Read: Gopuff Takes on Restaurant Aggregators with Launch of Pizza Brand

Last week, Gopuff announced the launch of The Mean Tomato, a private label virtual restaurant brand focused on pizza. The launch of this pizza brand, the company’s “first fresh food brand,” is part of a longer-term strategy to create a range of restaurant brands that will further establish the company in the food-on-demand space.

Research from PYMNTS’ April study, “Digital Divide: The Key Factors That Drive Restaurant Choice,” created in collaboration with Paytronix, found that 0.3% of the 2,600 U.S. consumers who responded to the survey cited delivery service quality as the top factor influencing their choice, and only 0.1% said the same of a restaurant being available on an aggregator.