Food delivery giant Grubhub has acquired Tapingo, a similar sort of food ordering service that caters exclusively to students on 150 college campuses nationwide. Chicago-based Grubhub is paying $150 million to buy up the six-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that processes tens of thousands of transactions a day, according to Grubhub.
Grubhub will add about 90 employees to its payroll following the acquisition, with many of the company’s engineers staying in San Francisco. That’s actually part of what makes the deal so sweet for Grubhub, according to the delivery giant’s chief product officer. “Hiring is difficult. We’re super excited they’re already in San Francisco,” said Grubhub CPO Sam Hall, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Even though it’s been around for a few years now, Grubhub, which was founded in 2004, continues to grow at a rapid pace year over year, especially since merging with Seamless in 2013.
In February of this year, the service added popular fast food chains Taco Bell and KFC to its delivery roster after testing the program with Taco Bell and KFC parent company Yum Brands in several cities. And in August, Grubhub acquired Boston-based LevelUp for $390 million in cash. LevelUp launched in 2011 as a mobile payments and loyalty rewards program platform.
And consumers still clearly have an appetite for food delivery options. Active Grubhub diners increased 70% in the past year, from 9.2 million to 15.6 million.