Maya Robertson
DoorDash is deepening its investment in advertising technology with the acquisition of retail media startup Symbiosys for $175 million, as it officially surpasses $1 billion in annualized ad revenue. The strategic move marks a major expansion of the food delivery giant’s advertising ambitions, aimed at increasing its reach both on and beyond its platform.
Symbiosys, founded in 2023, enables brands to target retail audiences across digital ecosystems such as Google, TikTok, and Meta using first-party retailer data. The startup’s platform, known for enabling collaborative bidding between brands and retailers, will remain operational under its own name and continue to serve existing clients like Chewy and Best Buy. DoorDash has been an early partner of Symbiosys, using its tools to create an off-site ad solution for local merchants that operate on performance-based pricing.
“This acquisition accelerates our ability to connect businesses with high-intent consumers across multiple digital channels,” said DoorDash VP of Ads, Toby Espinosa. “It also strengthens our core ad offering by giving small and medium-sized merchants access to tools typically reserved for larger brands.”
In addition to the acquisition, DoorDash unveiled its most significant advertising update to date. The company launched a suite of AI-powered tools designed to simplify campaign management for small restaurants and retailers. Merchants can now input basic goals and budgets, while DoorDash’s AI handles campaign creation, targeting, promotions, and reporting. For larger brands and CPG companies, the platform now supports enhanced video formats, sponsored product ads, and deeper performance metrics including category share insights and custom reporting.
The acquisition also enables DoorDash to expand its advertising beyond its native app. With Symbiosys’ technology, brands can now run integrated campaigns across search, social, and display while maintaining closed-loop measurement—an increasingly valuable tool in an evolving privacy landscape.
Symbiosys’ collaborative bidding model is particularly relevant to DoorDash’s complex order ecosystem, where a single delivery may involve multiple parties. For example, a customer ordering a meal might also add a beverage sourced from a convenience store like 7-Eleven, introducing opportunities for multi-party campaign bidding and attribution involving the restaurant, retailer, and brand.
The $1 billion revenue milestone, reached just three years after launching DoorDash Ads in 2021, positions the company as one of the fastest-growing retail media networks globally. Together with its European counterpart Wolt Ads, DoorDash now serves more than 150,000 advertisers across 30+ countries.
With the Cannes Lions festival approaching, DoorDash’s latest moves suggest a push to compete more aggressively with rivals like Uber and Amazon in the increasingly competitive commerce media landscape. The company says these new tools are part of a broader strategy to become a key player in local commerce advertising by offering a platform that scales from local eateries to global brands.
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