Source: Digiday
DoorDash's $9.1 billion acquisition of Instacart signals that pure logistics arbitrage—the core business model of first-generation delivery apps—can no longer sustain valuations or growth. By absorbing Instacart's grocery vertical and cross-selling infrastructure, DoorDash is betting that single-category delivery economics don't work and that survival requires bundling higher-margin services (groceries, convenience goods, financial services) into a single platform. The shift: from the 2010s playbook of "dominate one category, then expand" to today's requirement that platforms need portfolio density to approach workable unit economics.