Skip to main content

Company History

DoorDash History: Founding, Growth & Key Milestones

Founded 2013 in Palo Alto, California

When was DoorDash founded?

DoorDash was founded in 2013 in Palo Alto, California by Tony Xu, Stanley Tang, Andy Fang and Evan Moore, making it 13 years old.

Founded
2013
Founding place
Palo Alto, California
Founders
Tony Xu, Stanley Tang, Andy Fang and Evan Moore
Headquarters today
San Francisco, California
Milestones documented
12 (2013–2026)
Current CEO
Tony Xu
Acquisitions
5
YearEvent
2013PaloAltoDelivery.com Launches
2018DashPass Launches
2018SoftBank Leads $535 Million Round
2019Acquired Caviar
2020IPO
2021Chowbotics Acquired
2022Wolt Acquisition
2025SevenRooms Acquisition
2025Deliveroo Acquisition
2025GAAP Profitability
2026Q2 2026 Revenue Up 36%
2026AI Ordering Agent Launch
Where was DoorDash founded?
DoorDash was founded in Palo Alto, California in 2013. en.wikipedia.org
Who founded DoorDash?
DoorDash was founded by Tony Xu, Stanley Tang, Andy Fang and Evan Moore.
When did DoorDash start?
DoorDash was founded in 2013.
How old is DoorDash?
DoorDash is 13 years old as of 2026.

Founding Story

In 2012, Stanford students Tony Xu, Stanley Tang, Andy Fang and Evan Moore were interviewing small business owners for a class project. A Palo Alto macaron shop owner showed them a stack of delivery orders she had to turn down because she had no drivers. In January 2013 the team launched PaloAltoDelivery.com, a one-page site with PDF menus and their own phone number, and delivered the first orders themselves. They joined Y Combinator that summer and renamed the company DoorDash.

Founders

Tony Xu

Tony Xu co-founded DoorDash in 2013 and has been CEO since the start; he is also chair of the board. He led the company's suburban expansion strategy, its December 2020 NASDAQ IPO, the Caviar, Wolt, SevenRooms and Deliveroo acquisitions, and its shift to GAAP profitability in 2024. He joined the board of Meta Platforms in 2022. Tony Xu was born in 1984.

Stanley Tang

Stanley Tang co-founded DoorDash in 2013 while still an undergraduate at Stanford. He helped build the company's incredibly simplistic first prototype (a static webpage with PDF menus) and personally delivered the first several hundred orders in Palo Alto to perfectly understand the brutal logistics of restaurant delivery. Stanley Tang was born in 1992.

Andy Fang

Andy Fang co-founded DoorDash in 2013 alongside his Stanford classmates. As Chief Technology Officer during the early hyper-growth years, he architected the highly complex dispatch algorithms required to match thousands of 'Dashers' with restaurants and consumers in real-time without causing massive delays. Andy Fang was born in 1992.

Evan Moore

Evan Moore co-founded DoorDash in 2013. Drawing on his previous experience working in a restaurant, he focused heavily on merchant acquisition, successfully convincing highly skeptical local restaurants that paying a 30% commission for delivery was actually a profitable expansion of their business. He left the company in its early stages. Evan Moore was born in 1985.

Key Milestones

2013

PaloAltoDelivery.com Launches

The founders test local restaurant delivery in Palo Alto.

Source: sec.gov
2018

DashPass Launches

DoorDash introduces a subscription product to drive consumer frequency.

Source: sec.gov
2018

SoftBank Leads $535 Million Round

SoftBank led a $535 million investment in DoorDash in March 2018.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
2019

Acquired Caviar

DoorDash acquired Caviar for $410 million. Bought the Caviar premium restaurant delivery service from Square to add upscale urban restaurants that had avoided mass-market delivery apps.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
2020

IPO

DoorDash becomes a public company.

Source: sec.gov
2021

Chowbotics Acquired

DoorDash bought the salad-robot maker Chowbotics in February 2021.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
2022

Wolt Acquisition

DoorDash closes the Wolt acquisition, expanding internationally.

Source: sec.gov
2025

SevenRooms Acquisition

DoorDash acquires SevenRooms to add restaurant reservation and CRM software.

Source: sec.gov
2025

Deliveroo Acquisition

DoorDash acquires Deliveroo for $3.724 billion in purchase consideration.

Source: sec.gov
2025

GAAP Profitability

DoorDash reports $935 million in FY2025 net income.

Source: sec.gov
2026

Q2 2026 Revenue Up 36%

Revenue reaches $4.45 billion and adjusted EBITDA $914 million in Q2 2026.

Source: ir.doordash.com
2026

AI Ordering Agent Launch

DoorDash introduces a text-to-order AI agent inside Apple Messages.

Source: thenextweb.com

Major Acquisitions

Caviar

2019

Bought the Caviar premium restaurant delivery service from Square to add upscale urban restaurants that had avoided mass-market delivery apps.

Scotty Labs

2019

Acquired the teleoperations startup to support early autonomous delivery research.

Wolt

2022

All-stock acquisition of the Helsinki-based delivery platform, announced in November 2021 at about $8.1 billion and closed in 2022, giving DoorDash its first large international footprint.

SevenRooms

2025

Added restaurant reservation, guest data and CRM software to DoorDash's Commerce Platform.

Deliveroo

2025

Acquired the London-listed delivery platform at 180p per share, valuing it at about $3.83 billion (£2.9 billion), to expand in the UK, Ireland, Europe and the Middle East.

Keep researching DoorDash

DoorDash Company History FAQ

What is the chronological history of DoorDash from 2013 to the present day?

Founded in 2013 as PaloAltoDelivery.com, DoorDash joined Y Combinator, launched DashPass in 2018, became the U.S. delivery leader by spending share in 2019, listed on NASDAQ in December 2020, acquired Wolt in 2022, reached full-year GAAP profitability in 2024, and bought SevenRooms and Deliveroo in 2025.

When did DoorDash overtake Grubhub and Uber Eats to become #1 in US delivery?

Bloomberg Second Measure card-spending data showed DoorDash overtaking Grubhub as the largest U.S. food delivery service in 2019, and it has stayed ahead of Uber Eats since.

When was the DashPass subscription loyalty program launched?

DoorDash launched DashPass in 2018 as a monthly subscription offering $0 delivery fees and reduced service fees on eligible orders. In the U.S. it costs $9.99 a month or $96 a year.

When did DoorDash complete its Initial Public Offering on the NASDAQ?

DoorDash completed its IPO on the NASDAQ Global Select Market on December 9, 2020, under the ticker symbol DASH at an initial price of $102 per share, raising $3.4 billion in one of the largest tech IPOs of 2020.

How did DoorDash support restaurants and local economies during COVID-19 lockdowns?

In 2020 DoorDash cut commissions for many independent restaurants and offered contactless delivery as dining rooms closed, and its Project DASH program delivered food bank supplies to families in need.

When did DoorDash launch nationwide grocery and non-restaurant retail delivery?

DoorDash began adding grocery and convenience delivery in 2020 and has since partnered with chains such as ALDI, Safeway and Wegmans and retailers such as Sephora and PetSmart, alongside its own DashMart stores.

When was Project DASH created to fight hunger and food insecurity?

Project DASH, created in 2018, uses DoorDash's delivery network to bring food from food banks and community organisations to people who cannot reach them.

What is DoorDash's long-term vision for the future of local commerce?

DoorDash's long-term vision is to be the central nervous system for physical local commerce, empowering every local neighborhood business with the technology, logistics, and data necessary to deliver anything to consumers within minutes.

How did DoorDash start?

DoorDash was founded in 2013 by four Stanford University students: Tony Xu, Stanley Tang, Andy Fang, and Evan Moore. They originally built a simple website called "PaloAltoDelivery.com" with a PDF of local menus and used their personal cell phones to take orders and drive the food themselves.

Related Strategic History

Compare founding milestones and corporate evolution

Content is for informational purposes only. Not financial advice. Data sourced from SEC filings, annual reports, and public records. See our full disclaimer and methodology.