US delivery giant DoorDash is to buy grocery app Instacart in a $17bn deal, its biggest acquisition to date

DoorDash will pay $65 a share — a 26% premium — for Instacart, with the deal expected to close by end-2027 or the first half of 2028, making it the food delivery firm's largest acquisition to date. The merger unites DoorDash's restaurant and logistics network with Instacart's grocery expertise across some 100,000 stores, positioning the combined company to challenge Amazon and Walmart in the fast-growing online grocery market.

Instacart customers will be able to shop at 50,000 more stores through DoorDash's platform, while subscribers could consolidate two separate monthly memberships into a single fee.

DoorDash CEO Tony Xu said the deal is designed to give local grocers 'a fighting chance' against giants like Walmart, which holds 21% of US grocery spending.

Instacart's 600,000 independent shopper-contractors will continue fulfilling orders as before, and both the Instacart name and its app will be retained.