DoorDash is buying Instacart for $17 billion
The acquisition brings together the nation’s largest food delivery service and its leading online grocery platform.
Photo: big4credit.com
DoorDash has agreed to acquire Instacart in a $17 billion cash-and-stock deal, expanding its reach in grocery delivery and broadening its range of services.The transaction is expected to be finalized in late 2027 or early 2028. The deal still requires regulatory approvals to close. Recently, the Department of Justice has cleared several major transactions, prompting companies to accelerate merger announcements amid a more favorable regulatory climate.
DoorDash considered buying Instacart in 2021, when it was the dominant third-party grocery delivery service, but never pursued a deal. The company began by delivering restaurant meals and has since become the market leader.
DoorDash already delivers for retailers such as Kroger, Safeway and Aldi, and acquiring Instacart would strengthen its position in grocery delivery and its ability to compete with giants like Amazon and Walmart. The combined company would hold a significant share of the U.S. market for restaurant meal and grocery deliveries.
DoorDash CEO Tony Xu said the merger would create a best-in-class delivery platform, enabling retailers of all sizes to compete with the world’s largest companies. The merger is also expected to speed up deliveries and make prices more affordable.
The company said in its announcement that customers would pay a single fee for both memberships once the deal is finalized.
Since its founding, Tony Xu and his co-founders have grown DoorDash into a leader in the gig-delivery industry, powered by a network of nine million independent delivery workers. Xu beat rivals like Grubhub and Uber Eats by locking in exclusive partners, rewarding loyal customers, and building density in the suburbs first. Asked about the timing of the deal, Xu told investors the core business was performing well. “We felt like we had the space to do something offensive,” he said.
DoorDash filed to go public in February 2020. The following month, the pandemic sent orders surging and gave the business an unprecedented boost. DoorDash’s rapid growth drew mounting scrutiny of Xu and the business he founded. States and cities targeted DoorDash’s pay practices. In September 2026, the company agreed to pay $131.5 million to New York City regulators after admitting it failed to pay thousands of workers correctly or on time.
DoorDash settled a Chicago lawsuit last year that accused it of posting restaurant menus without the owners’ permission and luring customers with low fees that later increased, and the company said it no longer engages in those practices.
Tony Xu said local grocery stores would not be required to sign exclusive agreements with the combined company. At the same time, more orders for local businesses give couriers more ways to earn, whether through grocery deliveries on slow days, restaurant orders at peak times, or both.
DoorDash is rolling out an AI agent that takes orders by text, letting customers order directly through Apple Messages, the company said in September 2026. The same month, DoorDash unveiled its own autonomous delivery aircraft and laid out plans for an end-to-end drone delivery system.
Founded in 2012, Instacart became one of the defining success stories of the 2010s “gig economy” boom. It leveraged massive private investor backing, surged to a $39 billion valuation during the pandemic grocery boom, and went public in 2023.
Instacart partners with 2,200 retailers serving nearly 100,000 grocery stores and works with 9,000 consumer packaged goods brands. In 2025, Instacart fulfilled 338 million orders, according to company’s filings.
Instacart’s brand and platform will stay in place after the deal because the service has many loyal customers, Xu said.
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