DoorDash 3Q’26: Buying the Big Basket

DoorDash had another solid quarter. Total orders grew 28% YoY and marketplace Gross Order Value (GOV) grew 36%, and excluding Deliveroo both grew at the same 17% and 23% as in 2Q'26. However, the similar growth trajectory masks a mix shift, with the US accelerating while international outside Deliveroo slowed.

The quarter was, of course, not the highlight since along with the quarterly results, DoorDash announced its Instacart acquisition for $65 per share (~$17 Billion valuation), which makes last year's Deliveroo deal (~$3.7 billion) look like a warm-up. I will go through the quarter first, then spend most of this piece on Instacart acquisition, and how the deal squares with the grocery basket economics I wrote about earlier.

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Let me start with the quarter.