DoorDash paid $175M for Symbiosys to push its ads beyond its own app

Symbiosys, founded in 2022 by ex-Google advertising leader Bashar Kachachi, builds software for retailers to sell off-site advertising for brands' products.

Deal valued at $175M. Symbiosys had raised $9M (Series A, 2024, led by Bellevue-based Fuse); other backers include HookLogic co-founder Jonathan Opdyke and Flywheel Digital co-founder Patrick Miller.

Bashar Kachachi — a former advertising leader at Google with over a decade on ads at Microsoft — founded Symbiosys in 2022 in the Seattle area, with president John Roswech (ex-Marchex and HookLogic) and engineering leader Dan Cooke (ex-Criteo, HookLogic, WorldQuant). It rode retail-media tailwinds, partnering with DoorDash and Best Buy.

DoorDash said the deal boosts its off-site advertising capabilities, letting advertisers such as global CPG brands and local restaurants expand into digital channels outside DoorDash properties. Symbiosys will continue operating under its own brand, according to Kachachi.

Retail media is growing because Amazon proved ads can be high-margin; every marketplace wants the same second engine.

Off-site is the unsaturated half: DoorDash properties alone cap reach; Google and Instagram don't.

Symbiosys arrived pre-integrated — already a DoorDash partner — cutting integration risk on a $175M buy.

When your marketplace's ad inventory saturates, buy the pipes that sell your audience elsewhere — the audience is the asset, not the app.

Symbiosys continues under its own brand. The article appeared June 11, 2025; no revenue targets for the combined ad business were given.