DoorDash buys Instacart for $17B
DoorDash has agreed to buy Instacart, the US grocery delivery company, for about $17B. For each Instacart share, holders can take $65 in cash or DoorDash shares that the companies also value at $65; at least three-quarters of the total is paid in cash. The price is 26% above Instacart’s share price before the first reports of a deal, and more than double its $30 IPO price of 2023. The deal is expected to close at the end of 2027 or in the first half of 2028.
Instacart’s valuation from its first round to DoorDash’s offer
Stock market value monthly from October 2023. The sale is agreed, not closed.
Source: Dealroom.co · company filings
At about $17B, Instacart is the largest of these deals, ahead of Uber’s $14.8B offer for Delivery Hero in July. DoorDash also bought Wolt in 2021 and Deliveroo in 2025.
The largest acquisitions of food and grocery delivery companies
Price when announced. The Instacart and Delivery Hero deals have not closed.
Source: Dealroom.co
Instacart is not a software company: it earns fees on grocery orders and sells advertising. Of 31 listed software companies bought since 2024, nine sold for a lower multiple than Instacart’s 4.3 times revenue. Its 26% premium is below the median of 32%.
Instacart next to recent software take-privates
Premium: the offer price above the share price before the deal became public.
Source: Dealroom.co
Revenue growth alone explains little of the spread in these multiples. For the 20 companies bought by private equity firms, the Rule of 40 explains more: revenue growth plus free cash flow margin. Instacart scores 35, from 11% growth and a 24% margin. At that score the private equity trend puts about 6.8 times revenue, against DoorDash’s 4.3.
Instacart’s multiple, growth and cash flow next to software take-privates
Rule of 40: revenue growth plus free cash flow margin. Rule of X counts growth X times. R²: the share of the spread in multiples that the trend line explains.
Source: Dealroom.co
What this means
DoorDash is paying about $17B for Instacart. That is more than the $9.9B valuation at its 2023 IPO and less than half the $39B valuation of its last private round in 2021. Measured against revenue, the price is lower than most recent take-privates of listed software companies, and the premium over the share price is below most of them. The deal still needs approval from Instacart’s shareholders and from competition regulators.