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DoorDash secures $600 million Series G amid last-mile delivery boom

DoorDash is now valued at $12.6 billion.
Written by Natalie Gagliordi, Contributor
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On-demand delivery startup DoorDash is now valued at $12.6 billion after securing $600 million in Series G venture funding, the company announced Thursday. DoorDash noted in its announcement that it's grown 60 percent since its Series F and now has annualized GMV of $7.5 billion as of March, an increase of 280% year-over-year. 

In addition to its astronomical growth, the company's funding and valuation reflect a broader interest in last-mile delivery, a major part of logistics and shipping. 

Last-mile delivery costs tend to be the most expensive part of online order fulfillment, and major retailers including Amazon, Target and Walmart have tinkered with the economics of various delivery programs and technologies.

While many players in the space are focusing on robotics and drone development for the last mile, companies like DoorDash offer an affordable human labor force that businesses can deploy immediately to expand delivery options for customers and ease last-mile logistical burdens. Because of that business model, DoorDash, as well as many of its main competitors, have expanded rapidly across industries and markets, and secured key corporate partnerships.

Also: Delivery wars: Amazon's new delivery robot VS Starship's college munchie robot

DoorDash last year inked a partnership with Walmart to deliver online grocery orders to customers. The partnership, part of a mashup of delivery options Walmart has turned to as it works to expand its grocery delivery program, provided a tremendous boost in scale for DoorDash's white-label fulfillment platform DoorDash Drive. The company also announced recently an integration with Wegmans to power their Meals 2Go app, and its restaurant clientele includes Chipotle, Denny's, Portillo's and Wingstop.

Meanwhile, Google just announced that it was teaming up with a handful on-demand delivery providers -- including DoorDash -- to facilitate food ordering and delivery via its Search, Maps and Assistant platforms. 

DoorDash's value has spiked over the last two years, from $1.4 billion in March 2018 to almost $13 billion today. Nonetheless, the company has yet to disclose revenue and its profit trajectory remains unknown. Investors, however, don't seem too put off by the uncertainty, as the company's latest funding round was joined by new investors Darsana Capital Partners and Sands Capital. Existing DoorDash investors include Coatue Management, Dragoneer, DST Global, Sequoia Capital, Softbank Vision Fund, and Temasek Capital Management.

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