DoorDash Moves Ahead With Q4 IPO Plans

DoorDash, the San Francisco-based prepared food delivery service, is planning to go public by year’s end, Bloomberg reported, citing sources.

The food delivery giant’s plans for an initial public offering (IPO) come as Airbnb Inc, Asana Inc., Palantir Technologies Inc., Snowflake Inc., and Unity Technologies Inc. also plan to debut as public companies this year.

In February, the Silicon Valley-based delivery unicorn filed for an initial public offering (IPO) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). But the company filed “confidentially,” meaning its financial reports would not be immediately made public. Confidential filings allow unprofitable startups in initial growth mode to investigate the early stages of a public listing without the public scrutiny.

At the time, DoorDash said its valuation was $13 billion at the close of 2019. The startup raised about $2 billion from investors, including SoftBank and venture capital firm Sequoia Capital. Its most recent funding was $100 million in November, led by new investor T. Rowe Price Group.

Like other delivery companies, DoorDash became an essential business during COVID-19.

While the company is still not profitable, it raised roughly $400 million in Series H financing in June led by new investors Fidelity Management & Research Co. as well as Durable Capital Partners LP in addition to current investors, accounts and funds that T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. advises. The financing puts the delivery company’s worth at nearly $16 billion, according to the company.

“DoorDash has pioneered a unique logistics platform that facilitates the delivery of food, groceries, and household essentials and has become ingrained in the lives of local communities as an essential service,” said Durable Capital Partners LP’s Henry Ellenbogen in the announcement.

The timing of Bloomberg’s report comes as the delivery service could be the latest gig company to face an injunction to treat its workers as employees, not independent contractors.

San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin has filed for a preliminary injunction against the country’s largest food delivery service that would require the company to reclassify its workers as employees.

“We are seeking an immediate end to DoorDash’s illegal behavior of failing to provide delivery workers with basic workplace protections,” Boudin said in a statement. “All three branches of California’s government have already made clear that these workers are employees under California law and entitled to these important safeguards.”

DoorDash declined to comment.