Matt Salzberg is a businessperson and entrepreneur, known for co-founding

Blue Apron Blue Apron Inc. is an American ingredient-and-recipe meal kit company headquartered in New York City, operating its services exclusively in the United States. It offers weekly boxes containing ingredients, which also includes suggested recipes th ...

(where he was CEO),

Embark Veterinary Embark is a canine genomics and biotechnology company based in Boston, Massachusetts. The company offers dog DNA testing services to consumers, breeders, and veterinarians. History Embark was founded in Austin, Texas, in 2015 by brothers Adam Bo ...

and Suma Brands. He is currently founder and Managing Partner at Material, a

venture fund Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which hav ...

focused on systematic company creation opportunities.

Early life, education and family

Salzberg grew up in

Edison, New Jersey Edison is a township located in Middlesex County,in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated in Central New Jersey within the core of the state's Raritan Valley region, Edison is a commercial hub, home to Menlo Park Mall and Little India. It is ...

and attended

J. P. Stevens High School John P. Stevens High School (abbr. JP or JPS) is a four-year comprehensive high school, comprehensive state school, public Secondary education in the United States, high school that serves students in ninth grade, ninth through twelfth grades fr ...

where he graduated as

valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the highest-performing student of a graduating class of an academic institution. The valedictorian is commonly determined by a numerical formula, generally an academic institution's grade point average (GPA ...

. He received his AB in economics at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 2005, where he served as president of the

Sigma Chi Sigma Chi () International Fraternity is one of the largest North American fraternal literary societies. The fraternity has 244 active (undergraduate) chapters and 152 alumni chapters across the United States and Canada and has initiated more tha ...

fraternity, and graduated ''summa cum laude''. In 2010, he received his MBA from

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

. He is married to Lily Hayes Salzberg.

Career

Salzberg started his career as an investor in private companies, first as an analyst in

The Blackstone Group Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. Blackstone's private equity business has been one of the largest investors in leveraged buyouts in the last three decades, while its real estate bu ...

’s private equity group from 2004-2008, and then as a senior associate at

Bessemer Venture Partners Bessemer Venture Partners (Bessemer) is an American venture capital firm. The firm has over $19 billion under management and invests globally, with offices in San Francisco, Redwood City, New York City, Boston, Israel, India, and London. Bessemer ...

, a venture capital firm, from 2010-2012. In 2012, Salzberg developed the idea for Blue Apron, an e-commerce business centered around home cooking, and nationwide recipe and ingredient delivery. He recruited two co-founders to join him and served as CEO from 2012 to 2017. During his tenure as CEO, the company grew from a concept to over 5,000 employees, $910 million in revenue. As CEO, Salzberg emphasized the opportunity to use business for social good, including partnering with food banks to distribute millions of pounds of food to the hungry, signing on as an amicus in ''

Obergefell v. Hodges ''Obergefell v. Hodges'', ( ), is a landmark LGBT rights case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection ...

'' (the U.S. Supreme Court case which established the right to gay marriage), committing the company to become part of EPA’s “Food Loss and Waste 2030 Champions,” partnering with

Michelle Obama Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. She was the first African-American woman to serve in this position. She is married t ...

’s Let’s Move initiative to promote healthy eating for children, and favoring suppliers with sustainable and regenerative practices. In 2017, Salzberg took Blue Apron public, raising $300m in its

Initial Public Offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

then served as Chairman from 2018 to 2021. In September 2021, Salzberg and RJB Partners LLC invested $33m in Blue Apron as a private placement, and RJB Partners backstopped a rights offering at a 158% premium to the prior day’s closing stock price. As part of that transaction, Blue Apron agreed to additional ESG initiatives including: achieving

carbon neutrality Carbon neutrality is a state of net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. This can be achieved by balancing emissions of carbon dioxide with its removal (often through carbon offsetting) or by eliminating emissions from society (the transition to the "p ...

, enacting a $15 minimum wage, and implementing new board diversity goals. Salzberg also co-founded

, a genetic testing company for dogs, with Ryan Boyko and Adam Boyko, and has served on the Board of Directors since 2015. In 2021, Embark raised $75m from Softbank, valuing the business at $700m. In 2019, Salzberg launched Material, a venture capital fund focused on systematic company creation opportunities. He has co-founded and serves as Chairman at Suma Brands.

Honors, awards and organizations

* Member,

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

* 35 under 35 by

Inc. Magazine ''Inc.'' is an American business magazine founded in 1979 and based in New York City. The magazine publishes six issues per year, along with surrounding online and social media content. The magazine also produces several live and virtual events y ...

* 40 under 40 by

Fortune Fortune may refer to: General * Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck * Luck * Wealth * Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling * Fortune, in a fortune cookie Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Fortune'' (1931 film) ...

* 40 under 40 by Crain's * 2016 E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year national award * Entrepreneur in Residence at Harvard Business School

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Salzberg, Matt Living people J. P. Stevens High School alumni People from Edison, New Jersey Harvard College alumni Harvard Business School alumni Year of birth missing (living people)