DoorDash said on Thursday it would buy Instacart in a deal valued at about $17 billion, stepping up its push into the fast-growing U.S. grocery delivery market as competition among app-based platforms intensifies.
Heightened competition following a slowdown in orders from the pandemic peaks, along with rising cost pressures and tough regulatory scrutiny over the treatment of gig workers, has spurred a flurry of deals in the industry.
These include Just Eat Takeaway acquiring Grubhub for $7.3 billion, DoorDash’s purchase of Wolt and UK’s Deliveroo in 2025, as well as Uber’s $15 billion deal for Delivery Hero earlier this year and Postmates in 2020.
Meanwhile, companies are chasing growth by expanding into grocery and retail as the restaurant delivery business matures.
Grocery deliveries are gaining traction as budget-conscious consumers embrace the convenience of online deliveries, especially when gas prices have hit new highs due to disruptions linked to the war in Iran.
Shares of Instacart, formally known as Maplebear, have risen nearly 30% so far this year. They hit a record high of $62 on Monday following reports of DoorDash nearing a takeover deal.
Shares of DoorDash, which has a market value of about $73 billion, have fallen about 25% so far this year.
The Information had reported that San Francisco-based Instacart was exploring a possible sale and had held preliminary discussions with potential buyers, including Uber and DoorDash.
In a regulatory filing on Monday, Instacart said it would wind down its Caper Cart smart shopping-cart business by the end of the second quarter of 2027, expecting related pre-tax charges of $55 million to $80 million.
(Reporting by Anuja Bharat Mistry in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
