Photo: Courtesy Seamless.Nor does it involve sushi, Korean, tacos, or even Brazilian barbecue. Seamless, your favorite way to order food online, is gearing up for an initial public offering (IPO) through its parent company, Grubhub Inc. It's big news for the net-born companies, which began in 1999 and 2004, respectively. The two once-competing startups merged in the late summer of 2013.
As Valleywag reports, the company brought in $137.1 million in the year of its merger, an almost 70% increase from the year before, and claims 3.5 million regular users. It joins Facebook, Twitter, King Digital Entertainment (Candy Crush Saga's creators), and many others in an increasing number of startups to go public. Unlike, say, Facebook and Twitter, however, Grubhub Inc. has a clear path to profitability — its revenue stream, however marginal, doesn't depend on monetization methods that don't exist yet. As many have noted, the IPOs of those two massive social-networking companies were based wholly on speculation and hype. Though Grubhub Inc. isn't likely to be a monster on the market, it might have a value plan in place (of course, Valleywag has its doubts).
Basically, you, your neighbors, and your neighbor's neighbors have ordered so much moo goo gai pan while binge-watching House of Cards that you've changed the way we eat, engage with restaurants, and the financial market itself. Congrats, and enjoy your fortune cookies. (Valleywag)