Mobile-ordering provider secures additional $22 million in funding
Tapingo, which is popular on U.S. college campuses, said it will use the funding to accelerate its expansion beyond the college market.
Mobile-ordering technology provider Tapingo this week announced a $22 million investment led by Qualcomm Inc. through its investment arm Qualcomm Ventures. DCM Ventures, Kinzon Capital, and existing investors Khosla Ventures and Carmel Ventures also participated in the round, according to a press release. The company said will use the funding to accelerate its expansion beyond the college market .with the goal of transforming local commerce.
Tapingo's mobile-ordering technology uses machine learning to determine user preferences from everyday behavior and then matches those preferences with what's available nearby, according to the announcement.
"When you buy a coffee, you shouldn't have to wait in line, pay at a register, then wait again," said Tapingo Founder and CEO Daniel Almog. "Your phone should know what kind of coffee you like and make sure it's available for you — where you need it, when you need it."
Since tapping into the college market in 2014, Tapingo has grown from two dozen campuses to more than 85 across the U.S. Tapingo said it currently processes more than 25,000 transactions per day with the average user transacting more than four times per week.
"Our vision was always to begin with dense retail ecosystems involving high frequency transactions," says Almog. "We realized that college campuses were the perfect proving ground. What we didn't anticipate was how quickly universities and students would adopt this new behavior. This validated our decision to bring the technology to analogous ecosystems."