Who is this DoorDash that wants to acquire Deliveroo?

© Deliveroo

Behind this little-known name in Belgium lies an American giant in meal delivery. By eyeing Deliveroo, the company is mainly looking for a gateway to Europe, at a particularly opportune time.

DoorDash, the company that is still unknown to us and that allows Americans to discover the “ taste of Belgium ” in their neighborhood, wants to take over Deliveroo. The proposed price: 1.8 pounds per share. Which values the British company at around 3 billion euros.

No surprise. There were already several rumours about this in the press, as Deliveroo recalled in its press release last Friday . According to the rumours at the time, disagreements about the valuation would have put an end to the talks.

This time, both parties would be sitting around the table again, helped by the major movements currently taking place in the global sector. In February, investor Proxus cast its eye on Just Eat Takeaway, with a takeover bid of 4.1 billion euros.

The timing is all the more opportune as Deliveroo has lost much of its stock market value, down more than 50% since its IPO in 2021, while demand for food delivery has stagnated since peaking during the coronavirus pandemic.

In other words, the American DoorDash has a trump card up its sleeve, with a dozen new markets in prospect. But who is this potential new European player really?

Everyone here knows UberEats, the American delivery service, but in the United States, another player dominates the market. A company that recorded a 24% increase in turnover in 2024, good for 10.7 billion dollars (9.4 billion euros) and an adjusted EBITDA of 566 million dollars (499 million euros, +56%). Or, more concretely, a platform that manages an average of 7 million deliveries per day.

Another Californian success story coming to us soon?

DoorDash is the story of a Stanford student project turned commercial success, a journey that began in February 2013 with the delivery of “a chicken pad thai and spring rolls” via the former domain name PaloAltoDelivery.com .

The first Dasher – a nickname for the platform’s delivery drivers – admits that he “had no idea of the possibility of turning our project into a business.” Yet, co-founder and CEO Tony Xu writes in his letter to shareholders, “so many things today remain connected to the early days of DoorDash.”

Such as “the need for an exceptional digital experience and a high-quality last-mile logistics network, capable of delivering goods from all merchants, whether they are perishable like ice cream or fries, as delicate as orchids or crickets, or as precious as iPads or large television screens”.

Over the past five years, DoorDash has invested more than ever to scale and expand its business “from a one-product company in one country (the United States) to a multi-product company operating in more than 30 countries.” While food delivery remains its core division, the operator has also expanded into grocery delivery, consumer goods, and other items like sporting goods.

“We believe that local GDP growth remains the best way to create economic opportunity and move everyone forward,” DoorDash CEO said in a statement.