Startup Tapingo provides a mobile commerce platform that lets students use mobile devices to order and pay for purchases at local merchants around college campuses.

Students can see inventories, browse merchandise and buy food directly by phone using payment methods such as credit cards or PayPal. The platform is currently available at a few college campuses and the company is looking to expand its footprint.

Thanks to a hefty investment from Carmel Ventures, that footprint may expand considerably. Carmel has invested $3.5 million in Tapingo. Shlomo Dovrat, cofounder and general partner in Carmel Ventures, will join Tapingo's board of directors.

"The funding will help accelerate our sales and marketing as we seek to make Tapingo the mobile ordering service of choice on college and university campuses throughout the United States," said Daniel Almog, CEO of Tapingo.

Dovrat said Tapingo's solution creates an ultimate mobile shopping platform by integrating mobile ordering with physical commerce.

"Students don't just want services to help them save time, they expect them," Almog said, adding that Tapingo has seen great traction already and is constantly optimizing and personalizing its service to keep pace with students' rising expectations.

For more stories like this, visit the mobile/virtual wallet research center.