DoorDash to acquire Instacart for $17 billion, uniting restaurant and grocery delivery

DoorDash has agreed to acquire Instacart in a transaction valued at roughly $17 billion, bringing together the biggest name in restaurant delivery and the largest pure-play grocery delivery marketplace. According to TechCrunch, the offer prices Instacart at $65 per share and has already been approved by the boards of both companies. The Verge reports that the deal is not expected to close until the end of 2027 or the first half of 2028, pending regulatory approvals and other closing conditions.

How the combined company will operate

DoorDash says it will retain the Instacart brand, its app and its enterprise technology products. Until the transaction closes, the two businesses will continue to run independently rather than being folded into a single platform immediately.

For consumers, The Verge reports that Instacart users would gain access to more than 50,000 additional stores through DoorDash's network, and that DashPass and Instacart Plus subscribers would eventually pay a single membership fee instead of two.

DoorDash has also made commitments about what happens after closing. According to The Verge, local grocers will not be locked into exclusivity and can keep working with either delivery service. Instacart's shoppers, the people who pick and pack orders, will keep flexibility over their working hours and which orders they accept, including the choice of whether to take DoorDash orders at all.

Why DoorDash is buying now

Instacart entered the deal from a position of reasonable strength. TechCrunch notes the company's market capitalization stood above $13 billion, with shares up 25 percent year to date, and suggests the timing reflects a chance to sell at an attractive price before competition in grocery delivery intensifies.

DoorDash, which began as a restaurant courier, already operates its own grocery delivery business but competes there with Instacart, Uber, Walmart and Amazon, according to The Verge. The acquisition also helps it diversify as rivals push into its core food delivery market, with Uber having bought Postmates and Delivery Hero.

In its announcement, DoorDash argued that the largest online retailers and grocers are building their own delivery fleets, warehouses, membership programs and AI shopping assistants, while smaller grocers operating on thin margins cannot do all of that alone. CEO Tony Xu said that grocery is one of the hardest categories to get right online, noting that someone has to pick produce carefully and get frozen items delivered quickly, and that Instacart has spent years mastering those logistics for grocers.

Instacart CEO Chris Rogers said the company has spent 14 years helping retailers of all sizes compete in online grocery, and that combining its retail relationships and grocery technology with DoorDash's logistics network would open new opportunities for partners.

The deal follows a fast-moving negotiation period. The Verge reports that The Information first revealed talks between Instacart and both Uber and DoorDash, and that The Wall Street Journal subsequently reported DoorDash was in advanced discussions that could conclude within the week. TechCrunch, citing Bloomberg, adds that Instacart had earlier been in talks with Uber but walked away from those discussions.

Why it matters

The acquisition consolidates the two leading on-demand delivery platforms in the United States under a single owner, spanning restaurant takeout, grocery and retail delivery, with combined consumer memberships and a shared merchant base. That scale is precisely what will attract regulatory attention, which helps explain the unusually long runway to closing — up to two years or more.

The outcome will shape how millions of households order groceries, how local grocers access e-commerce tools and advertising technology, and how delivery workers on both platforms organize their work. It also marks another step in the broader consolidation of delivery and e-commerce logistics, as mid-sized platforms merge to better withstand pressure from Amazon, Walmart and other giants investing heavily in their own delivery infrastructure and AI-driven shopping experiences.