Nov 10, 2021 - Economy

DoorDash agrees to buy European delivery company Wolt

Dan Primack

Illustration of a person in a suit and wearing a delivery backpack looking at a phone. — Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios

DoorDash agreed to buy Wolt, a Finland-based restaurant delivery company that operates in 23 European countries, for €7 billion (more than $8 billion) in stock.

Why it matters: It reflects how the local food and convenience delivery wars will be globalized via acquisition. Recent deals include Just Eat Takeaway going stateside via the purchase of GrubHub and Gopuff entering the U.K. via the acquisitions of Dija and Fancy.

The big picture: DoorDash shares climbed more than 17% in off-hours trading, aided by an earnings beat, a gain that's much greater than the purchase price for Wolt.

Wolt had raised over $800 million, most recently in a Series G round earlier this year at a €2.62 billion valuation. Backers include EQT Ventures, Iconiq, Goldman Sachs, Highland Europe, Lifeline Ventures and 83North.

The bottom line: DoorDash had already dipped its toes into international expansion via a summer launch in Japan, and also bought a minority stake in German dark store startup Flink, but this is a cannonball jump off the high board.

Go deeper: The ravenous economy around delivering your dinner

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DoorDash agrees to buy European delivery company Wolt

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