GrubHub IPO: Food Delivery Company Debuts Under "GRUB," Raises $190 Million

GrubHub Inc., the company behind popular food delivery websites and apps like Seamless and GrubHub, made its initial public offering Friday, hitting the New York Stock exchange under the ticker “GRUB.” The stock opened at $26 per share and surged 40 percent during the opening day of trading.

If that price holds through the closing bell, GrubHub would raise more than $190 million from its IPO, valuing the company at about $2 billion.

GrubHub was founded in Chicago in 2004 by Mike Evans and Matt Maloney. A round of funding in 2007 allowed GrubHub to expand to San Francisco, and the acquisition of Dotmenu in 2011 let the company expand to New York as well as 300 college campuses. GrubHub merged with its biggest competitor, Seamless, in August to connect more than 28,000 restaurants across the U.S. and London.

GrubHub’s S-1 filing indicated that it had 680 employees at the end of 2013. GrubHub processed 135,000 orders per day, creating about $137 million in revenue, a 67 percent increase from the year-ago period.

The company says Americans spend $67 billion each year on food takeout and delivery. And GrubHub processed only about $1.3 billion of it, meaning there is plenty of room to grow.