Dingdong (DDL) S-8Registration of securities for employees

As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 24, 2022

Registration No. 333-                

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM S-8

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

Dingdong (Cayman) Limited

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Building 6, 500 Shengxia Road

Shanghai, 200125

The People’s Republic of China

+86 21-6858-5011

(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of Registrant’s principal executive offices)

Second Amended and Restated 2020 Share Incentive Plan

(Full Title of the Plans)

Cogency Global Inc.

122 East 42nd Street, 18th Floor

New York, NY 10168

+1 800-221-0102

(Name, address and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

Copies to:

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act.  ☐

PART I

INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE SECTION 10(a) PROSPECTUS

PART II

INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT

The following documents previously filed by Dingdong (Cayman) Limited (the “Registrant”) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) are incorporated by reference herein:

(a) The Registrant’s annual report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, filed with the Commission on May 2, 2022; and

(b) The description of the Registrant’s Class A ordinary shares, par value US$0.000002 per share, (the “Class A Ordinary Shares”) contained in its registration statement on Form 8-A (File No. 001-40533) filed with the Commission on June 22, 2021, including any amendment and report filed for the purpose of updating that description.

All documents filed or furnished by the Registrant pursuant to Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), subsequent to the effective date of this Registration Statement, prior to the filing of a post-effective amendment to this Registration Statement indicating that all securities offered hereby have been sold or deregistering all securities then remaining unsold, shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference herein and to be part hereof from the date of filing of such documents.

Any statement contained herein or in any document incorporated or deemed to be incorporated by reference herein shall be deemed to be modified or superseded for purposes of this Registration Statement to the extent that a statement contained herein or in any other subsequently filed document which also is or is deemed to be incorporated by reference herein modifies or supersedes such statement. Any such statement so modified or superseded shall not be deemed to constitute a part of this Registration Statement, except as so modified or superseded.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

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Cayman Islands law does not limit the extent to which a company’s memorandum and articles of association may provide for indemnification of officers and directors, except to the extent any such provision may be held by the Cayman Islands courts to be contrary to public policy, such as to provide indemnification against civil fraud or the consequences of committing a crime. Under the Registrant’s currently effective ninth amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, to the fullest extent permissible under Cayman Islands law, every director and officer of the Registrant, but not including the Registrant’s auditors (each an indemnified person) shall be indemnified against all actions, proceedings, costs, charges, expenses, losses, damages or liabilities incurred or sustained by such indemnified person, other than by reason of such person’s own dishonesty, willful default or fraud, in or about the conduct of the Registrant’s business or affairs (including as a result of any mistake of judgment) or in the execution or discharge of his or her duties, powers, authorities or discretions, including without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, any costs, expenses, losses or liabilities incurred by such indemnified person in defending (whether successfully or otherwise) any civil proceedings concerning the Registrant or its affairs in any court whether in the Cayman Islands or elsewhere.

Pursuant to the indemnification agreements, the form of which is filed as Exhibit 10.2 to the Registrant’s registration statement on Form F-1, as amended (File No. 333-256907), the Registrant has agreed to indemnify its directors and officers against certain liabilities and expenses incurred by such persons in connection with claims made by reason of their being such a director or officer of the Registrant.

The Underwriting Agreement, the form of which is filed as Exhibit 1.1 to the Registrant’s registration statement on Form F-1, as amended (File No. 333-256907), also provides for indemnification of the Registrant and its officers and directors.

The Registrant currently maintains a directors and officers liability insurance policy for its directors and executive officers.

Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers or persons controlling the Registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, the Registrant has been informed that in the opinion of the Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is therefore unenforceable.

Not applicable.

See Exhibit Index below.

(a) The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes:

(1) To file, during any period in which offers or sales are being made, a post-effective amendment to this Registration Statement:

(i) to include any prospectus required by section 10(a)(3) of the Securities Act of 1933;

(ii) to reflect in the prospectus any facts or events arising after the effective date of the Registration Statement (or the most recent post-effective amendment thereof) which, individually or in the aggregate, represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the Registration Statement;

(iii) to include any material information with respect to the plan of distribution not previously disclosed in the Registration Statement or any material change to such information in the Registration Statement;

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provided, however, that paragraphs (a)(1)(i) and (a)(1)(ii) of this section do not apply if the information required to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in reports filed with or furnished to the Commission by the Registrant pursuant to section 13 or section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that are incorporated by reference in the Registration Statement; and

(2) That, for the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

(3) To remove from registration by means of a post-effective amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the termination of the offering.

(b) The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, each filing of the Registrant’s annual report pursuant to section 13(a) or section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (and, where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plan’s annual report pursuant to section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934) that is incorporated by reference in the Registration Statement shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

(c) Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the Registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the Registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the Registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the Registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, the Registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.

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Dingdong (Cayman) Limited

Exhibit Index

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SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, the Registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this Registration Statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in Shanghai, on June 24, 2022.

POWER OF ATTORNEY

KNOW ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS, that each person whose signature appears below constitutes and appoints Mr. Changlin Liang as his or her true and lawful attorney-in-fact with full power of substitution and re-substitution, for and in such person’s name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments (including post-effective amendments) to this Registration Statement, and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto such attorney-in-fact full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done as fully to all intents and purposes as he might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that such attorney-in-fact may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this Registration Statement has been signed by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

SIGNATURE OF AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE OF THE REGISTRANT

Pursuant to the Securities Act of 1933, the undersigned, the duly authorized representative in the United States of Dingdong (Cayman) Limited, has signed this Registration Statement or amendment thereto in New York, on June 24, 2022.