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§ Private Profile · San Francisco, CA, USA
Tapingo is a technology company.
Tapingo developed a mobile commerce application offering advance ordering, pickup, and food delivery services, primarily catering to college campuses. The platform provided a seamless interface for users to browse menus, place orders, and make payments directly from their mobile devices. Its technological approach integrated local merchant partnerships with a user-friendly browsing system to streamline transactional experiences within campus ecosystems.
Daniel Almog and Jonathan Ellman co-founded Tapingo in 2012. Their insight stemmed from recognizing the inefficiencies and friction points in daily transactions for students on college campuses. They sought to create a solution that would alleviate these challenges by simplifying the ordering and payment process for food and other campus services through a convenient mobile application.
The platform served college students and the wider campus community, enabling them to efficiently access and manage their daily purchases. Tapingo’s long-term vision centered on transforming the campus experience by making everyday transactions more accessible and less time-consuming. The company aimed to empower users with greater control over their ordering and payment interactions, fostering a more convenient and integrated campus lifestyle.
Tapingo has raised $67.0M across 4 funding rounds.
Tapingo has raised $67.0M in total across 4 funding rounds.
Tapingo has raised $67.0M across 4 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $30.0M Series D in August 2016.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 1, 2016 | $30M Series D | — | Pitango Venture Capital, Viola Ventures | Announced |
| Apr 1, 2015 | $22M Series C | Qualcomm | Bling Capital, Casa Verde Capital, DCM, FJ Labs, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Pitango Venture Capital, Viola Ventures, Bobby Goodlatte, DCM, Khosla Ventures, Kinzon Capital, Viola Growth | Announced |
| Feb 1, 2014 | $11M Series B | Benjamin Ling | Bling Capital, Pitango Venture Capital, Viola Ventures, Bobby Goodlatte, Viola Growth | Announced |
| Jul 1, 2012 | $4M Series A | Shlomo Dovrat | Pitango Venture Capital, Viola Ventures | Announced |
Tapingo has raised $67.0M in total across 4 funding rounds.
Tapingo's investors include Pitango Venture Capital, Viola Ventures, Qualcomm, Bling Capital, Casa Verde Capital, DCM, FJ Labs, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Bobby Goodlatte, Khosla Ventures, Kinzon Capital, Benjamin Ling.
# Tapingo: High-Level Overview
Tapingo was a mobile food ordering platform that specialized in serving college campuses and resort environments through advance ordering technology.[1][2] Founded in 2012 and based in San Francisco, the company developed software that allowed students and guests to order food ahead of time, customize purchases, and skip lines—eliminating wait times at on-campus cafes, restaurants, and cashier-less stores.[1][2]
At its peak before acquisition, Tapingo processed tens of thousands of transactions daily across approximately 150 U.S. college campuses, serving over half a million active diners.[2] The platform addressed a specific pain point: the inefficiency of traditional food service operations in closed ecosystems like universities and resorts. By enabling pre-ordering and streamlining labor allocation, Tapingo helped institutional food service partners reduce hiring needs for roles like order takers, cashiers, and order runners, allowing them to focus resources on critical production positions.[1]
# Origin Story
Tapingo was founded in 2012 by Daniel Almog (co-founder and CEO) and others with a vision to use mobile technology to eliminate wasted time and stress in commerce.[3] The company emerged during the early mobile app boom, recognizing that college campuses represented an ideal initial market—a concentrated population with predictable ordering patterns and institutional partners motivated to improve operational efficiency.
The startup gained early traction by focusing exclusively on the campus vertical rather than competing broadly in food delivery. By 2018, Tapingo had established itself as the dominant player in college campus food ordering, serving 150 campuses and processing significant daily transaction volume. This focused approach and demonstrated unit economics made the company an attractive acquisition target.
# Core Differentiators
# Role in the Broader Tech Landscape
Tapingo rode the wave of mobile-first commerce and the broader shift toward on-demand services in the 2010s. However, the company's success revealed an important market segmentation: while Uber Eats and DoorDash dominated open-market delivery, specialized platforms could thrive by serving institutional verticals with unique operational needs.
The acquisition by Grubhub in November 2018 for $150 million reflected the strategic value of vertical expertise.[2] Rather than building campus and resort capabilities from scratch, Grubhub recognized that Tapingo's technology and institutional relationships provided a faster path to capturing the hospitality and education verticals. This acquisition demonstrated how large platforms acquire specialized competitors not to eliminate them, but to integrate their domain expertise into broader ecosystems.
# Quick Take & Future Outlook
Tapingo's trajectory—from focused campus platform to Grubhub acquisition to integration into a larger ecosystem—illustrates a common pattern in food tech: specialized solutions eventually consolidate into larger platforms that can leverage network effects and cross-selling opportunities. Post-acquisition, Grubhub expanded Tapingo's technology to approximately 260 college campuses and deployed it at resorts like Resorts World Las Vegas, demonstrating that the underlying technology had broader applicability beyond its original market.[1]
The company's legacy lies not in remaining independent, but in proving that institutional food service represented a distinct market segment worth $150 million in acquisition value—a lesson that shaped how larger platforms think about vertical integration and specialized ordering technology.