DoorDash to buy Instacart for $17 billion

DoorDash is gobbling up Instacart in a $17 billion acquisition that will supercharge its grocery delivery business. DoorDash said the Instacart brand name and app will remain, and Instacart shoppers can continue fulfilling orders for Instacart. Grocers can also choose to work with Instacart or DoorDash. Instacart customers will now have access to 50,000 additional stores covered by DoorDash, the company said. Instacart, founded in 2012, specializes in grocery and convenience store delivery in the U.S. and Canada. Its 600,000 “shoppers” — who are independent contractors — completed 338 million orders last year, according to company filings. Instacart has a market value of $14 billion. DoorDash, founded in San Francisco in 2013, began as a restaurant delivery business but has expanded to pet food and electronics. Operating in 40 countries, it completed more than 3 billion orders last year using a network of 9 million independent delivery workers. It has a market value of $73 billion. DoorDash began delivering groceries in 2020 amid a surge in pandemic-era demand. Grocers were initially cautious. Kroger partnered with the San Francisco company in 2022 but initially allowed the company to deliver only flowers, sushi and prepared meals from a limited number of stores. Image Instacart has a market value of $14 billion. (Richard Drew/AP/file) The partnership with one of the nation’s largest grocery chains expanded last fall, and DoorDash now lists the full inventory of all 2,700 U.S. Kroger stores in its online marketplace. DoorDash scored another coup last month when it added delivery from Costco. Tony Xu, co-founder and CEO of DoorDash,…

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