DoorDash Drops $17B to Buy Instacart, Aiming to Outrun Amazon

DoorDash is making a massive play for Instacart. The delivery giant announced last week it wants to buy the grocery platform for $17 billion. If it goes through, the combined company would control 77% of U.S. consumer spending on delivery platforms, according to market research firm Consumer Edge. That's a staggering consolidation of the quick commerce space.

Why take such a huge risk when DoorDash is already growing? Revenue jumped nearly 24% from 2023 to 2024, then nearly 28% from 2024 to 2025. Analysts say the answer is Amazon. The e-commerce behemoth launched Amazon Now in May, promising 30-minute delivery on thousands of items in dozens of major cities. In March, it rolled out one-hour delivery in hundreds of cities. John Harmon, managing director of technology research at Coresight Research, told Modern Retail that Amazon is moving toward delivering things faster and faster. DoorDash doesn't want Amazon to own the 30-minute delivery crown the way it owns two-day shipping.

DoorDash is framing the deal as a win for local stores. Its press release touted how grocers could use Instacart's technology to run their own websites and retail media networks, boosting sales and ad revenue. DashMart fulfillment services could add online order capacity. It's a pitch that might also soothe antitrust worries.

Uber, meanwhile, isn't sitting still. Uber Eats has held steady at just under 20% of U.S. delivery spending for five years, per Consumer Edge. Instacart's share has slid from 26% to 18% in that time. Uber announced in July it plans to acquire Germany's Delivery Hero for $15 billion, which Reuters said would create the largest food-delivery group outside China. And Uber has a weapon DoorDash lacks: a ridesharing business, plus investments in autonomous vehicles and its Uber One subscription.

The retail media stakes are huge. Combining DoorDash's restaurant delivery data with Instacart's grocery orders would let advertisers target shoppers more precisely. Greg Carlucci, senior director analyst at Gartner, told Modern Retail that if someone sees an ad on DoorDash and buys through Instacart at a grocery store, that allows more measured outcomes that can be proved. Uber counters with its own edge: targeting consumers during rides, like when they're traveling.

All this jockeying shows just how valuable last-mile delivery has become. Carlucci called it the last frontier where it controls a lot of additional transactions. DoorDash and Instacart now face a long road of regulatory scrutiny. But if they pull it off, the race to your doorstep just got a whole lot more intense.