DoorDash has priced its shares at USD 102 apiece heading into its stock market debut Wednesday, valuing the 7-year-old food delivery company at nearly USD 39. The price was higher than the company’s most recent target price of USD 90 to USD 95 a share, reflecting investor enthusiasm for the initial public offering.

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The San Francisco-based company raised USD 3.4 billion in its offering. Starting Wednesday morning, DoorDash will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DASH.

DoorDash was founded in 2013, when CEO Tony Xu and some classmates at Stanford University set up a website and posted local menus. Customers have placed more than 900 million orders since then. It now offers delivery from 390,000 merchants in the US, Canada and Australia. Powering that service are 1 million independent delivery drivers.

DoorDash was already growing before the pandemic thanks to customers growing preference for dining at home. Its revenue more than tripled to USD 885 million between 2018 and 2019. But lockdown orders and the closure of indoor dining have made DoorDash indispensable for many restaurants and diners this year. DoorDash reported revenue of USD 1.9 billion in the first nine months of 2020 alone.

DoorDash pulled ahead of its rivals by focusing on suburbs and smaller cities. It now controls 50 percent of the US food delivery market. Its chief rival, Uber Eats, controls 26 percent, while GrubHub controls 16 percent.

Despite its market dominance, DoorDash has yet to post an annual profit. It had a net loss of USD 667 million in 2019 and lost USD 149 million in the first nine months of 2020. The company did turn a profit of USD 23 million in the second quarter this year, but followed that with a USD 43 million loss in the third quarter.

In federal filings, DoorDash warned that its sales growth may not continue at the same pace once the pandemic subsides.

First Published:Dec 9, 2020 8:25 AM IST