DoorDash aims to raise more than $2 billion with IPO

Food delivery service DoorDash aimed to raise upwards of $2 billion in a stock market debut valuing the startup at more than $25 billion, according to a regulatory filing on Monday, November 30.

Delivery of meals and groceries has boomed during the pandemic, with restaurants offering no or limited dine-in options and people fearful of exposure to COVID-19.

The startup was valued at $16 billion during a private funding round in June.

San Francisco-based DoorDash, which competes with GrubHub and Uber Eats, operates a leading online platform connecting people ordering food with those willing to deliver it.

DoorDash plans to sell 33 million shares priced somewhere between $75 and $85 dollars, making the potential maximum tally of the offering slightly more than $2.8 billion.

DoorDash is on track to take in some $2 billion in revenue this year on growing demand during the pandemic, the food delivery startup said in a prior filing.

The startup reported losses totaling $149 million in the first nine months of 2020 on revenues of $1.9 billion as sales more than tripled from the prior year.

“We have a history of net losses, we anticipate increasing expenses in the future,” the company said in a filing.

“We have expended and expect to continue to expend substantial financial and other resources on developing our platform… expanding into new markets and geographies, and increasing our sales and marketing efforts.”

The startup boasts having more than a million delivery people, referred to as “Dashers,” and more than 18 million customers.

It will begin the traditional “road show” of presentations to investors on Monday.

DoorDash has said surveys showed it with a 50% share of the US meal delivery market in October, twice as big as the number two service, Uber Eats.

DoorDash co-founder and chief executive Tony Xu said in a filing that the startup fulfills the American dream for his family, which came to the US from China when he was five years old.

“DoorDash exists today to empower those like my mom who came here with a dream to make it on their own,” he wrote

The company will make its debut on Wall Street on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock symbol DASH before Christmas.

DoorDash has followed in the footsteps of other tech startups regarding company governance, offering an assortment of share types that will result in co-founder Xu maintaining control.

A slew of tech startups including Airbnb, Roblox and Wish are on track to make Wall Street debuts by the end of this year. – Rappler.com