DoorDash has expanded its food delivery empire with the purchase of Caviar, a high-end food delivery and catering business. The acquisition was announced during the second-quarter sales report for Square, which acquired Caviar back in 2014. DoorDash says it will pay $410 million for the company in a combination of cash and stock. The deal is expected to close sometime this year.
DoorDash CEO Tony Xu said in a statement, “We’re thrilled to welcome Caviar to the family, and to work together towards our shared vision of empowering local economies.” Xu’s statement continued on to say, “We have long-admired Caviar, which has a coveted brand, an exceptional portfolio of premium restaurants and leading technology. The acquisition further enhances the breadth of our merchant selection, enabling us to offer customers even more choice when they order through DoorDash. We look forward to welcoming the Caviar team to DoorDash and expanding our partnership with Square in the future.”
Square’s Caviar lead, Gokul Rajaram, along with all the other Caviar employees, will join DoorDash once the acquisition closes. Rajaram said in a statement, “DoorDash has national scale, complementary restaurant selection, a tremendous logistics platform, and a team that shares our passion and commitment to better serve restaurants, couriers, and customers. I’m incredibly excited to be joining, with the rest of the Caviar team, to help build the future of local commerce.”
This isn’t the first time Square has tried to sell Caviar. In 2016, Square wanted to sell Caviar for $100 million but couldn’t find a buyer due to Caviar’s excessive losses. Square paid $90 million in stock for Caviar when it acquired the company.
The big players in the on-demand food delivery business are now DoorDash/Caviar, Postmates, UberEats and Grubhub/Seamless. DoorDash, still privately-owned, has raised $1 billion this year alone, including a Series G funding of $600 million. DoorDash is currently valued at $12.6 billion.
