Food delivery giant Deliveroo has agreed to a takeover by its US rival DoorDash in a deal worth around £2.9 billion.

San Francisco-based DoorDash will pay 180p a share in cash for London-listed Deliveroo in a move set to create a combined firm with a presence across 40 countries and handling about 90 billion US dollars (£67.7 billion) of orders each year.

The firms said: “The combination with Deliveroo will strengthen DoorDash’s position as a leading global platform in local commerce, enabling the combined entity to better serve businesses, consumers and couriers.”

Deliveroo, which was co-founded by chief executive Will Shu in 2013, operates in nine countries and works with more than 130,000 riders across the world.

It made sales of around £2 billion in 2024.

Mr Shu said: “We are now at the beginning of a transformative new chapter.

“DoorDash and Deliveroo are like-minded organisations with a shared strategic vision and aligned values.

“Together, we will be even better positioned to serve consumers, merchants, riders and local communities.

“The enlarged group will have the scale to invest in product, technology and the overall consumer value proposition.”

DoorDash was also set up in 2013, co-founded by chief executive Tony Xu, who has led the company ever since.

It operates in over 30 countries and delivers more than 2.5 billion orders a year, helping it notch up revenues of 10.7 billion US dollars (£8 billion) in 2024.

Mr Xu said: “I could not be more excited by the prospect of what DoorDash and Deliveroo will be able to accomplish together.

“We’ll cover more than 40 countries with a combined population of more than one billion people, enabling us to provide more local businesses with the tools and technology they need to thrive.”

The deal is expected to complete in the final three months of 2025 but will need to be approved by Deliveroo’s shareholders.