In January 2013, three Stanford University students launched a delivery service in Palo Alto, Calif.
That service received $120,000 in seed money from Y Combinator, a technology start-up accelerator, and in June 2013 the company incorporated as DoorDash (DASH).
The San Francisco company kept on growing, going public on Dec. 9, 2020. On its first day as a public company, DoorDash's stock rose 86% over its initial public offering price of $102 to close $189.51.
Shares were trading at $59.72 at last check.
The covid-19 pandemic was a boon to the company, as people turned to delivery services while stuck in their homes.
DoorDash, which made Bank of America's list of Top 10 small-cap tech stocks in June, controlled about 53% of the food delivery service in the U.S. last year, according to McKinsey & Co., followed by Uber Eats (UBER) with 26%.
Adding to the DoorDash Roster
The company recently announced that it is teaming up with a bunch of companies in the grocery, convenience, sporting and home goods categories.
Sprouts Farmers Market (SFM), is the latest addition to the list, and consumers will be able to shop from more than 375 of the supermarket chain's stores on the DoorDash marketplace.
Earlier, DoorDash announced a deal with the convenience store operator EG America to offer on-demand delivery from 10 of the company's brands including Cumberland Farms, Kwik Shop and Turkey Hill.
And then there's Big Lots (BIG). DoorDash has a deal with the home discount retailer where customers can shop from more than 1,400 Big Lots locations across 48 states.
Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS) is also on the list. DoorDash inked a deal with the sporting goods retailer to offer on-demand delivery from more than 700 stores across 47 states.
DoorDash Is 'Hyper-focused on Selection'
Rounding out the list are three grocery chains.
DoorDash will be partnering with the regional food retailer Giant Eagle, beginning with stores in Columbus, Ohio; Weis Markets, where DoorDash will be expanding its partnership for the mid-Atlantic grocer's first-party delivery; and The Raley's Companies, where DoorDash will expand its agreement to offer on-demand grocery delivery from over 213 locations.
There are now more than 75,000 non-restaurant retail stores on the DoorDash platform across North America.
"DoorDash is hyper-focused on selection, and we're excited about the significant progress we've made towards connecting every grocery, convenience, and retail store to every local consumer," Shanna Prevé, DoorDash's vice president of business development, said in a statement.
Success rarely comes without conflict and DoorDash is no exception.
The Gig Deal
DoorDash and other companies have been the source of controversy due to their business model, which treats drivers as independent contractors instead of employees.
California passed Assembly Bill 5 in 2019, which required ride-hail drivers and other "gig-economy" workers to be classified as employees.
Uber, Doordash, Lyft (LYFT), Instacart, and Postmates teamed up to push Proposition 22, which would classify their drivers as contractors instead of employee.
However, the legislation is currently in further litigation after the Alameda County Superior Court ruled in August 2021 that the ballot measure violates the California constitution
The Federal Trade Commission recently issued a policy statement saying that the agency would "use its full authority" to protect gig workers from "unfair, deceptive, and anticompetitive practices.
