We’re excited to announce that we have raised $17.3 million in Series A funding.
The round was led by Sequoia Capital, with participation from our existing investors Khosla Ventures, Charles River Ventures and Pejman Mar Ventures, along with Ted Zagat (of Zagat Survey).
We’re also thrilled to welcome Alfred Lin to the board, joining Andy, Stanley and Tony. Alfred’s experience at Zappos (former COO & CFO) and Airbnb (current Board member) makes him the perfect partner for our company.
The journey so far has been nothing short of amazing. 15 months ago, DoorDash was merely a dorm project; we were Stanford students by day, delivery drivers by night. Today, over 1 in 6 households in the Peninsula have used our service. The impact we’ve had on local communities has been humbling: we’ve helped small businesses grow, offered underemployed people flexible work, and delivered delight to customers.
On-Demand, Local Delivery
And we’re just getting started. We will take the funding to broaden our impact on making local economies more accessible and efficient. Our goal is to create the platform to connect merchants with consumers for the next generation of local delivery. The network we want to build will look like the following:
1. Efficient
We operate a full stack delivery service: by partnering with merchants, managing our own drivers, and developing our own logistics technologies, we’re able to control the entire delivery experience to make it more efficient for everyone.
2. Precise
We’re obsessed with logistics. We aspire to being able to give to-the-minute delivery estimates and delivery that promise with our efficient fleet of drivers. When we say something will arrive in 24 minutes, it arrives in exactly 24 minutes. Not 30. Not 15. Delivery windows will be a thing of the past.
3. Technology-Driven
The only way we can achieve this, at scale, is to be relentlessly focused on technology. We cannot approach this problem like traditional companies. We cannot — and won’t — throw people at problems; we let technology and product do the heavy lifting.
The Future
Fundraising itself doesn’t create value. Value comes from what we do with the money. We will use the funding to grow out the team, continue developing our dispatch technology and pursue our national rollout.
Yet it’s worth taking a pause — even for just a moment — to celebrate and reflect on what we’ve achieved so far. This wouldn’t have been possible without our amazing team of employees, drivers, merchant partners and investors. Most importantly, we want to thank all of our customers who’ve supported our service through our early beginnings. Thank you.
Ultimately, what excites us goes beyond food delivery. It’s the potential to transform the way things move around in cities and the broader impact we can have across all verticals in every local economy. If last mile delivery is something you’re excited about solving, come talk to us.
Okay, back to delivering delight :)
Andy, Stanley, Tony
