GrubHub, the 2006 winner of the Edward L. Kaplan ’71 New Venture Challenge at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business’ Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, announced it had completed its public offering, and its common stock was listed April 4 on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol GRUB.
Founded in 2004 by Matt Maloney, MBA’10, and Mike Evans, GrubHub is an online food ordering company that connects diners and corporate businesses—with approximately 28,800 takeout restaurants in more than 600 cities in the United States and London. GrubHub estimates that 3.4 million “active diners” place about 135,000 daily orders on the platform.
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“Matt and his team deserve high marks for entrepreneurial achievement,” said Steven N. Kaplan, the Neubauer Family Distinguished Service Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance at Chicago Booth and faculty director of the Polsky Center. “The New Venture Challenge provided frameworks, mentoring, feedback and networks that helped GrubHub refine its business model and accelerate its business.”
After winning the New Venture Challenge, Maloney and Evans took advantage of Polsky Center resources, and gained feedback and guidance for the first iteration of their business.
In May 2013, GrubHub announced it would merge with its top competitor, Seamless; the merger was completed in August 2013.
“It’s an ongoing pleasure to work with the GrubHub team,” said Ellen Rudnick, executive director of the Polsky Center. “Matt has become a valuable member of the Chicago entrepreneurial community and a generous contributor to the campus startup community.”
Launched in 1996, the New Venture Challenge is Chicago Booth’s premier startup program, designed to help student teams turn ideas into viable businesses. NVC companies have raised more than $300 million in public funding and have created several thousand jobs. NVC companies include Agile MD, Brilliant, Base CRM, BenchPrep, BloomNation, Braintree, brightroom, Caremerge, GrubHub, InContext Solutions, MedSpeed, and Quantitative Insights, among others.
—Prof. Jacqueline Stewart
