INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The on-demand food delivery wars continue to heat up in the United States DoorDash announced today that it has filed confidentially to go
The company noted that its Form S-1, a draft registration statement, was filed with the SEC and is now being reviewed
It did not say how many shares it would potentially sell, the share price range for the IPO or what the timing of its next steps would be.A
public listing would be another way for the company to pick up a significant injection of capital at a key time in the on-demand delivery
The timing of the news also underscores just how cash-intensive this business can be
November last year, just over three months ago
It operates in heated, and subsequently expensive, rivalry with the likes of Postmates (10% share) and Uber Eats (20%), and more legacy
players like Grubhub (31%)
That fierce competition is very capital-intensive and has led to rumors over the few years that the company has explored mergers with Uber
Eats and Postmates.But DoorDash has also had its share of controversy, specifically around labour issues and how it interfaces with and pays
its thousands-strong workforce of contractors
It also faced a data breach last year that affected nearly 5 million consumers, workers and merchants
It also has been quietly building up its technology stack, with acquisitions like Scotty Labs to explore autonomous driving systems (to
unprofitable) to explore the early stages of setting themselves up for a public listing without the public scrutiny that comes with the
And Postmates, which filed for an IPO a year ago, has subsequently raised money and is said to be delaying any public moves.More to come.
