LinkedIn post: DoorDash reported a strong Q3 and the key points sounded very similar to the story told by Uber a couple of days ago (https://lnkd.in/dZvzPf2s). I read that some people think OpenAI will eat them all – I very much doubt that.
1/ What changed this quarter
U.S. restaurants accelerated, MAUs and DashPass additions rose, and international unit economics hit an all-time high. Ads kept scaling while unit economics improved. Post quarter, DoorDash closed Deliveroo acquisition, expanding the footprint and membership base in Europe.
2/ Platform and AI
DoorDash is unifying DoorDash, Wolt, and Deliveroo on a single AI-native platform – this is a bombastic project! 2026 is mentioned to be the year of the big move, but at first, they’ll keep Deliveroo performing on its current stack, which will be some overhead before consolidating. The company also plans to improve logistics quality via new mapping platform, SmartScale, an Autonomous Delivery Platform, and “Dot,” a purpose-built delivery robot moving toward commercialization in 2026.
3/ New verticals as an on-ramp
More consumers are starting in grocery, convenience, and retail and then cross-shopping restaurants – yes, Uber also shared that. Unit economics improved sequentially and YoY while average consumer fees in these categories fell. DoorDash launched DashMart Fulfillment Services to give retailers same-day or same-hour delivery with near-perfect pick accuracy by owning inventory and last-mile flow end to end.
4/ Membership is a core lever for frequency and retention
Including Deliveroo, DoorDash now serves 30M+ members across DashPass, Wolt+, and Deliveroo Plus, with record DashPass and Wolt+ adds year to date. Expect DoorDash to keep layering perks, lower fees, and bundles that lift order frequency and shift more restaurant orders from grocery and retail journeys. Uber also called Uber One as a major Delivery driver this quarter.
5/ Merchant growth engine
The ads business reached a $1B run rate at high incremental margins – this is crazy how commerce apps are now making money out of thin air. On the B2B side, DoorDash Drive, Storefront, and the SevenRooms CRM stack extend beyond delivery into reservations, marketing, and in-store engagement.
6/ International scale
International unit economics reached a new high while MAU growth ticked up. With Deliveroo, the network now spans 40+ countries, 50M+ MAUs, 1M+ merchants, and over $100B annualized GOV.
7/ Orders and money
Marketplace GOV $25.0B (+25% YoY) – Total Orders 776M (+21%) – Revenue $3.446B (+27%)