SAN FRANCISCO – DoorDash said it agreed to buy rival Instacart in a cash and stock deal valued at about $17 billion.
DoorDash anticipates that the deal will close late next year or in the first half of 2028. The company said it expects to keep Instacart’s brand, app, and its enterprise technology products, which include data and advertising capabilities used by grocers to manage complexity and grow their business.
Instacart’s high-margin enterprise technology business accounts for more than a quarter of its revenue. DoorDash said Instacart’s technology assets would bolster its own efforts to provide enterprise tools, including its retail media network, DoorDash Ads, that helps brands reach consumers at the point of purchase across the restaurant, grocery, convenience, and retail categories.
“Grocery is one of the hardest things to get right online," Tony Xu, co-founder and CEO of DoorDash, said in a statment announcing the agreement. "Someone has to pick a ripe avocado, find a substitute you’d choose yourself, and get the ice cream to you before it melts. Instacart has spent years learning to do that well for grocers, while DoorDash has built a delivery network and technology that local stores rely on every day. Together, we could give stores of every size more of those tools and unlock the potential of grocery delivery. It’s still early innings, but we know that when more people shop local, more dollars stay local.”
A combined company would help DoorDash and Instacart advance their shared mission to help local businesses succeed, DoorDash said. Consumers will have more stores to choose from, as well as more savings opportunities when they choose to shop with a local business, and faster delivery options. And the companies' delivery workers, known as Dashers and Shoppers, will have more ways to earn, the company said.
DoorDash this week posted third-quarter results that exceeded Wall Street’s estimates, with gross order value up 36% to $33.9 billion. The San Francisco company said it expects continued growth from its delivery business in the current quarter, with gross order value increasing to between $35.4 billion and $36.4 billion.
DoorDash began by delivering food from restaurants and has since expanded to also serve major retailers.
