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Dada Nexus

On-demand deliveryChina
New to Unitard
πŸ“‰ Public < $1B
PeakΒ $9.6 BillionRecorded estimate
~-95%
from peak
  1. πŸ¦„
    Became a unicorn
    2018
  2. πŸ“ˆ
    Peak valuation
    $9.6 Billion ’21
  3. πŸ’”
    Became a Unitard
    2022
  4. πŸ’Έ
    Last valuation estimate
    ~$480M
Current status
Listed on Nasdaq (DADA); faced a 2024 accounting-fraud probe; JD majority-owned

The rise & fall

8 moments Β· 2014–2024

The key moments.

2014
Founded in Shanghai
Philip Kuai's Dada builds a crowdsourced courier network for last-mile delivery.
TechCrunch
2018
Walmart and JD top it up
A $500M round from Walmart and JD values the delivery platform above $1B.
Reuters
Jun 2020
Nasdaq IPO
Lists as 'DADA' just as the pandemic supercharges on-demand delivery.
Nasdaq
2021
The peak: ~$9.6B in the delivery boom$9.6B
The pandemic on-demand boom carries the JD- and Walmart-backed platform to its record market cap early in the year.
YCharts
2021–22
Regulatory selloff and red ink
China's tech crackdown hammers US-listed ADRs while losses persist.
Reuters
2022
Slips out of the club
The market cap sinks well below the $1B line.
stockanalysis.com
2024
Probe finds inflated revenue
An internal investigation finds inflated online-advertising and marketing revenue; the stock craters toward ~$0.5B and JD tightens its control.
Reuters

How it happened

Dada Nexus, formed from the merger of crowdsourced-delivery firm Dada and JD's JD Daojia on-demand retail arm, was one of China's largest local on-demand delivery and retail platforms, backed by JD.com and Walmart. It listed on Nasdaq in June 2020 and rode the pandemic-delivery boom to a peak market capitalization near $9.6B in early 2021.

A regulatory selloff, persistent losses and a 2024 internal investigation that found inflated online-advertising and marketing revenue gutted the stock, leaving it at roughly $0.5B β€” well below the $1B line β€” with JD increasing its control.

Source: stockanalysis / YCharts / Nasdaq (JD- and Walmart-backed on-demand retail and delivery; June 2020 Nasdaq IPO, peak market cap ~$9.6B late 2020/early 2021; internal probe found inflated revenue in 2024; market cap ~$0.5B in 2024-25)

Founder

  • Philip Kuai
    Founder & former Chairman/CEO
    Still there β€” Founder & CEOLinkedIn β†—

Current roles as self-reported on LinkedIn, retrieved 2026-08-19. See our methodology.

Disclosed investors (10)

Historical funding participation; lists may be incomplete and do not establish current ownership or investor losses.

* Lead in a funding round Β· Crunchbase β†— Β· 2026-10-23 Β· Methodology Β· Leaderboard

πŸ¦„