News Tag: Financial

GrubHub.com secures $2 million in Series B funding

Company plans to build the largest online network of restaurants that offer off premises dining options and create innovative products to improve delivery service

GrubHub.com, a leading online service for ordering restaurant takeout and delivery meals, announced today that it has secured a Series B round of financing for $2 million. The deal was co-led by Origin Ventures and Leo Capital, with earlier investor Amicus Capital participating.

The Series B funding will enable the company to build the largest online network of restaurants that deliver; and create new innovative products to enhance user experience and improve the quality of delivery service. GrubHub.com is currently operating in Chicago, IL., New York City, NY, San Francisco, CA, Boston, MA, and recently launched in Philadelphia, PA.

 “Over the last year, GrubHub.com has successfully accelerated its sales growth in the top metro delivery markets.” said Randy Rissman, Leo Capital managing partner. “This investment will allow GrubHub.com to continue to build the technology and business team required to expand its customer reach geographically and product wise.”

GrubHub.com, which first launched in Chicago in 2004, secured Series A funding in 2007 through Amicus Capital, Origin Ventures and several angel investors, allowing the company to rapidly expand into the top three delivery markets – New York City, San Francisco and Boston.  The company has quickly outpaced its initial goals. Last year, GrubHub.com placed over $20 million in restaurant delivery orders and is currently partnered with over half of the delivery restaurants in all its existing markets.

“We’ve seen healthy growth over the last year even though the economy has been steadily going in the opposite direction,” said Matt Maloney, GrubHub.com co-founder and CEO. “With funding dollars drying up in the current economic climate, this recent round of financing is a show of confidence from the investment community. We plan to continue GrubHub.com’s rapid geographic expansion and launching innovative tools to make off premises dining easier and faster over the next year.”

GrubHub.com has been a pioneer in online ordering, developing the first automated phone confirmation system for online restaurant delivery orders and the first iPhone application for ordering food. The company was also at the forefront of organizing and listing all restaurant delivery information in each market it services. With the new funding, GrubHub.com will continue to enhance its product development and technology with additional smart phone applications and new interactive consumer-facing content on the site.

GrubHub.com is currently looking to add rock star employees to its growing team. For more information, please visit www.grubhub.com/careers/.

About GrubHub.com

GrubHub.com came into existence in 2004. Matt Maloney and Mike Evans, two Chicago software developers, frustrated by the lack of restaurant delivery and takeout information available on the Internet, built a comprehensive Web site for users to find out who delivered to their exact addresses.

For more information or to discover who delivers anywhere in Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, New York and Philadelphia, visit http://www.grubhub.com.

About Leo Capital 

Leo Capital Holdings, LLC is a privately funded venture investor based in Northbrook, IL., making investments in early stage consumer-oriented companies. The firm works with companies that target large markets and makes investments across the United States.

About Origin Ventures

Origin Ventures is a venture capital firm based in Northbrook, IL., investing in early-stage companies. The firm invests capital and leverages its principal’s entrepreneurial, marketing and management expertise to help facilitate the growth of early-stage companies.

About Amicus Capital

Amicus Capital is a seed stage information technology investment fund, based in San Francisco, CA. The firm invests in entrepreneurs who are developing innovative information technology solutions to problems that affect large numbers of businesses or consumers.

Grubhub.com Wins the University of Chicago New Venture Challenge

Local Website that Shows Users “Who Delivers” Wins $25,000 and Continues to Gain National Recognition at Prestigious Competition

CHICAGO A national panel of venture capitalists awarded GrubHub.com, a website founded in Chicago by two friends, first place out of over 60 entries in the 10th Annual Edward L. Kaplan New Venture Challenge at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. Winners were selected based upon the uniqueness of product and services, fulfilling an unmet need, exceeding customer expectations and the likelihood of market success.

GrubHub.com is the only way for people to find all of the restaurants that deliver to them. Users simply enter their address into the website and GrubHub.com returns the menus, coupons, and delivery information for all of the restaurants that deliver to that location. GrubHub.com is totally free for users because it is in the business of lead generation for delivery restaurants.

“What an ingenious idea,” said Michael Alter CEO of SurePayroll, Inc, #53 of the Inc. 500 fastest growing companies. “Its so simple and absolutely useful, everyone should use GrubHub.com!”

Today GrubHub.com serves over 75,000 users per month and is growing by 30% every month. Last year, Chicagoans placed over 2 million dollars in orders for delivery through GrubHub.com. Users can call the restaurants to place a delivery order or use GrubHub.com’s online ordering system.

Founded by Mike Evans and Matt Maloney, both of whom have masters degrees in computer science and used to work at Apartments.com, GrubHub.com has been a labor of love until now. “We have called every restaurant in the city of Chicago to get our data,” said Mike Evans, “We maxed out our cell phone minutes, our credit cards, and not to mention our wives’ patience, but this recognition is absolutely worth the sacrifice.”

GrubHub.com is using the prize money to fund a national expansion to San Francisco, Seattle, New York City, Boston, and Washington D.C..

Widely held as the premier business school for budding entrepreneurs, the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business created The New Venture Challenge in 1996 as a way to promote entrepreneurship. Now in its 10th year, the competition has launched 30 new companies that have attracted more than $100 million in funding. The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity also supported the competition by donating a portion of the prize money.

Contestants were judged based on their prospects for success, quality of their business plan, and a final presentation to a panel of 19 distinguished judges and over 200 spectators at the University of Chicago on May 25, 2006.

About the Edward L. Kaplan New Venture Challenge

Founded in 1996, the New Venture Challenge is designed to encourage students to turn their entrepreneurial ideas into reality. This year, cash prizes of $50,000 were be awarded to student teams of entrepreneurs who submitted business plans showing significant promise and business potential.

The road to the finals began with 64 student groups, each with a business plan. During the spring quarter, the field was narrowed to 31. Only nine teams made the finals. Student teams had 15 minutes to pitch their plans to a panel of 19 judges made up of top venture capitalists and entrepreneurs from all over the U.S.

About the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship

The Michael P. Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship, located at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, supports entrepreneurial development through its cutting-edge curriculum, faculty research, experiential learning, and community outreach programs.

About the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business

The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business is one of the oldest and largest business schools in the world. It offers full-time and part-time MBA programs, a PhD program, and open enrollment executive education.

About GrubHub.com

Who Delivers? GrubHub.com seeks to answer this question with a unique restaurant delivery search. Users simply enter their location through an intuitive online interface and GrubHub.com displays all of the menus, coupons, and delivery information for every restaurant that delivers to that address. Using GrubHub.com is free and orders may be placed over the phone or through GrubHub.com’s online ordering system at no charge.

GrubHub.com has over 1300 delivery restaurants listed in Chicago and also covers Milwaukee, San Francisco, and New York City. GrubHub.com has been featured on NPR, Fox Morning News, and various online publications including the Chicagoist, the Sfist, Gapers Block, and Daily Candy.