18. DoorDash

Food, faster

Founders: Tony Xu (CEO), Andy Fang, Stanley Tang, Evan Moore
Launched: 2013
Headquarters: San Francisco
Funding:
$1.4 billion
Valuation: $7.1 billion (PitchBook)
Key technologies:
Artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics
Industry:
Food delivery, logistics

It seems like no matter when or where you get a craving for sushi or ribs, there's a food-delivery service just rushing to get it to you. Among the leaders: DoorDash. This six-year-old San Francisco-based company now claims that its service is available to 80% of the country across 3,300 cities.

George Kavallines | CNBC

DoorDash partners with more than 300,000 restaurants, including Applebee's, Red Lobster, Chick-fil-A, Subway and White Castle, to bring their cuisine right to your home or office. To be sure, it's a crowded field, with UberEats, GrubHub and Postmates all battling for dominance.

The company was started by Tony Xu, Andy Fang, Stanley Tang and Evan Moore when they were students at Stanford and couldn't find enough restaurants that delivered in their area. To date, the company has raised an astounding $1.4 billion, including $400 million in February co-led by Temasek Holdings and Dragoneer Investment Group. Other investors in DoorDash include Softbank, Y Combinator, Sequoia Capital and DST Global.

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In March the company launched a new initiative, called Kitchens Without Borders, which spotlights the human stories of immigrant and refugee business owners that DoorDash partners with and aims to inspire people to support these small businesses. CEO and co-founder Tony Xu also shares his own family's story of immigration to the U.S. So far, there are 10 San Francisco-area restaurants featured on the site. These restaurants will also be promoted on the DoorDash app.

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