DoorDash to acquire Instacart in $17 billion deal

Irene Dong

3rd Nov 2026

DoorDash has agreed to acquire Instacart in a deal valued at approximately $17 billion, strengthening its position in online grocery as competition intensifies and operating costs rise across the sector.

The acquisition will give DoorDash greater access to grocery retailers, expand its market reach and create opportunities to improve order density and fulfilment efficiency.

“Grocery is one of the hardest things to get right online. Someone has to pick a ripe avocado, find a substitute you’d choose yourself, and get the ice cream to you before it melts,” said Tony Xu, co-founder and CEO of DoorDash. 

“Instacart has spent years learning to do that well for grocers, while DoorDash has built a delivery network and technology that local stores rely on every day.” 

Neil Saunders, MD of GlobalData, said the deal reflects the growing importance of scale in an increasingly competitive and cost-intensive online grocery market.

He noted that the combined business could offer regional and smaller supermarket chains an alternative to building their own delivery networks and technology to compete with major retailers such as Walmart and Amazon.

“If better economics can produce a lower cost to serve for retail partners, this gives DoorDash a significant point of differentiation,” he said. 

However, he cautioned that DoorDash would need to focus on improving picking and fulfilment economics to generate an adequate return on its investment. 

While DoorDash has made progress with automation, Instacart’s operations remain largely dependent on manual picking, which is labour-intensive and increasingly difficult to scale as online grocery volumes grow. 

“The solution might involve dedicated and automated fulfillment facilities in key locations, or extending DashMart-style fulfilment capabilities to more retail partners,” Saunders added.  “Either way, DoorDash should aim to position itself as a technology and infrastructure partner rather than simply a delivery provider.”

Maintaining retailer trust will also be critical, particularly regarding customer data ownership, fees, and reliance on third-party platforms.

Saunders said DoorDash must position itself as a technology and infrastructure partner that helps retailers succeed, rather than an intermediary extracting value from their businesses.

“Ultimately, this acquisition gives DoorDash greater scale but, in our view, this is only the starting point,” Saunders said. 

• Further reading: Serve Robotics and DoorDash roll out footpath delivery robots in Queensland.