INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Financial Times today, which reported that Uber and DoorDash discussed merging last year
food delivery space at great expense
companies together they would lose less money, and thus be in a better place to either return to their original IPO valuation or defend
their existing private valuation.Uber has famously struggled to retain value after its IPO, shedding worth during its public offering and
DoorDash, relatedly, was said to be in the market recently, but unable to close a new, large funding round
And as the two companies compete, a combination makes sense
other up with bricks of Vision Fund cash.According to a report today in The Wall Street Journal, a fight in Latin America between several
SoftBank-backed companies is raging:Uber is under siege in Latin America amid a bruising price war where its ostensible rivals are Rappi and
After all, why pay for one portfolio company to beat on another startup that you already helped finance? SoftBank, with its own investments
(Though, there are some examples of other firms doing this, like Sequoia putting money into Uber and Didi.)Which is why it might want
DoorDash and Uber to link up
It might lessen one headache
Then SoftBank could work on figuring out how to keep Uber and Didi from beating each other up on rides in other markets, while disentangling
Uber Eats and Rappi from a delivery scrap in yet more.Perhaps SoftBank wants all the players to merge into a single, mega-delivery and ride
That would never pass regulatory oversight, of course, but at least it would centralize the losses and cash burn into a single income
statement.Think of the time it would save!
