DoorDash to acquire Instacart in $17 billion merger

The online grocery delivery sector consolidated further on Thursday when DoorDash announced it will purchase Instacart for $17 billion. The transaction values Instacart shares at $65 each and unites two of the largest players in the U.S. food and grocery delivery market.

Tony Xu, co-founder and CEO of DoorDash, stated that the merger will provide stores of all sizes with better tools. He noted that Instacart has spent years refining its platform for grocers, while DoorDash has built a delivery network that local stores use daily. The company said the combination will allow more than 50,000 additional stores to join the Instacart platform, which currently supports nearly 100,000 stores.

DoorDash, which was founded in San Francisco in 2013, expanded into grocery delivery in 2020 during the pandemic. It later formed partnerships with Kroger in 2022 and Costco in September. Instacart, founded in 2012, specializes in grocery and convenience store delivery in the United States and Canada. The acquisition is expected to close in late 2027 or early 2028. Until then, the companies will operate as separate entities, and DoorDash plans to keep the Instacart brand, technology, and app intact.

The deal positions DoorDash as a stronger competitor to Amazon and Walmart. In its earnings report released Wednesday, DoorDash said revenue grew 34% year over year. Total orders rose 28%. According to Consumer Edge data, DoorDash held nearly 61% of the food delivery market share by the end of 2024. Uber Eats and Grubhub held approximately 26% and 6% of that market, respectively.

Instacart has seen its share of U.S. delivery platform spending drop to 18% from 26% five years ago, according to Consumer Edge. This decline reflects intensifying competition in the industry. Capital One data indicates that nearly 150 million Americans shopped for groceries online as of 2025. This shift toward digital ordering has increased scrutiny on how companies set prices.

Some firms are using artificial intelligence and consumer data to implement personalized pricing, a practice that charges different customers different amounts for the same item. The advocacy group Groundwork Collaborative criticized this approach in a report last year. The group found that identical grocery items on Instacart could vary in price depending on the shopper.

Federal regulators are examining these methods. The Federal Trade Commission announced on Thursday that it has opened a probe into DoorDash, Instacart, and seven other companies in the retail and transportation sectors. The investigation will look at how these firms set prices. DoorDash currently has a market value of $73 billion.

The acquisition is expected to benefit consumers by offering more store choices and faster delivery options. DoorDash said shoppers will also access savings when buying from local stores. The merger represents a major shift in the delivery industry, which is increasingly dominated by larger corporations.