- DoorDash will buy Instacart at $65 per share (a $17bn deal). At least 75% of the purchase price will be in cash.
- Instacart’s share of spend on US delivery platforms has dropped from 26% to 18% over the past five years.
- The purchase price is 56% below Instacart’s peak valuation of $39bn in 2021.
DoorDash has agreed to buy Instacart for approximately $17 billion, less than half of Instacart’s $39bn valuation in March 2021. DoorDash will pay $65 per share, 26% above its closing price on 22nd October.
At least 75% of the purchase price will be paid in cash. Instacart shareholders can elect to receive $65 in cash, 0.3372 DoorDash shares or a combination of $48.75 in cash and 0.0843 shares. The share component is capped at 25% and will be reduced if too many shareholders opt for it, per the SEC filing.
DoorDash will use its own funds and new debt to finance the cash portion, secured by a 364-day bridge loan from JPMorgan Chase. The deal is not dependent on financing, and DoorDash intends to maintain its investment-grade
“Grocery is one of the hardest things to get right online,” said Tony Xu, DoorDash’s co-founder and chief executive, arguing that grocery takes more than a driver: someone has to choose good produce, make sensible substitutions, and keep frozen food intact until it reaches the door.
Chris Rogers, Instacart’s CEO, said the deal will give retailers and brands more options and make online grocery simpler and cheaper for families. He also noted that Instacart has spent 14 years helping retailers of all sizes compete online.
Instacart’s value has cratered since its pandemic peak. It raised $265 million in March 2021 at a $39 billion valuation from investors including a16z, Sequoia and D1 Capital. It went public on the Nasdaq in September 2023 at a $9.9bn valuation. DoorDash’s offer is circa 72% above Instacart’s IPO value and 56% below its peak.
The offer is approximately 23% of DoorDash’s market cap, which the AP reported as $73 billion. Instacart wasn’t the only company with a very high valuation at that time, as Istanbul-based Getir raised $768 million at an $11.8 billion valuation in March 2022.
DoorDash reportedly considered a $ 40 billion-$50 billion acquisition of Instacart in 2021, but the talks were shelved over antitrust concerns under the Biden administration.
Two Y Combinator founders, two origin stories
Both companies exited YC just a year apart. In summer 2012, Apoorva Mehta, an engineering grad from Waterloo born in India, founded Instacart from a simple idea: his fridge only had hot sauce. He co-founded Instacart with Max Mullen and Brandon Leonardo.
Mehta stepped down as CEO in August 2021 and stepped off the board when Instacart went public in September 2023. Fidji Simo left the company to join OpenAI. Chris Rogers, former Apple Canada MD, joined Instacart in 2019 and became the third CEO on August 15th 2025.
DoorDash began in fall 2012 as Palo Alto Delivery. It was a very small operation, based out of a macaroon shop in Palo Alto. They had a landing page, a Google Voice number, and local restaurant menus. The founders were Stanford students Tony Xu, Andy Fang, Stanley Tang and Evan Moore. Their first order was Thai food, and it arrived within the hour; their only income was the $6 delivery fee. Moore left after 17 months.
How DoorDash gained the ground Instacart lost
Instacart’s market share is in decline in stark contrast to DoorDash’s growth. According to Consumer Edge, Instacart’s share of US delivery platform spend has declined from 26% to 18% over the past five years. DoorDash’s share has increased from 44% to 59%.
Uber Eats is just under 20%. DoorDash and Instacart together would have 77% of the market. The deal was announced alongside DoorDash’s Q3results: revenue up 34% to $4.62bn and orders up 28% to 993 million.
DoorDash already sells groceries. It lists the full inventory of Kroger’s 2,700 US stores, the AP reported, and has added Costco. Instacart offers even more options and technology, with a footprint of nearly 100,000 stores across over 2,200 retail partners. It also gives grocers tools to manage their own websites, ads, and AI. In 600,000 independent Instacart shoppers completed 338 million orders.
The European mirror
Closing is expected at the end of 2027 or in the first half of 2028. It will require Instacart shareholder approval, the conclusion of the US Hart-Scott-Rodino antitrust waiting period for large deals, and approvals in Canada and Israel. Approximately 19% of Instacart’s shares are held by parties who have agreed to vote in favour of the transaction.
Same thing going on in Europe. DoorDash took on Wolt in an all-stock deal and acquired Deliveroo for £2.9 billion in 2025. In July, Uber agreed to acquire Delivery Hero for $14.8 billion, with an expected closing in the second half of 2027, and then on October 6 agreed to acquire ezCater for $2.3 billion. Prosus acquired Just Eat Takeaway.com for € 4.1 billion.
Instacart’s investors will get a largely cash payout at less than half its peak valuation. In the meantime, US, Canadian, and Israeli regulators will decide whether the grocery software used by all sorts of retailers can be bundled into the platform, which has been Instacart’s main growth competitor. DoorDash’s pledge not to require grocery exclusivity is its initial response to those concerns.
