GrubHub makes it official: files for $100 million IPO

Company saw $137 million in revenue last year from 3.4 million active diners

We all knew it was coming, but now it is finally official: GrubHub is going public!

The food delivery company, which had previously filed confidentially with the Security and Exchange Commission, revealed the news on Friday. The company's common stock is expected to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "GRUB."

While the number of shares to be offered, as well as the price range for the offering, have not yet been determined, the S-1 that GrubHub filed with the SEC shows that it is looking to raise as much as $100 million for the IPO.

The company revealed that it generated revenue of $137.1 million in 2013, an increase of 67% from 2012. That growth, it said, was driven by "increasing adoption of our platform by restaurants and diners." The company had 3.4 million Active Diners as of December 31, 2013.

GrubHub also benefited from its merger with Seamless in May of last year. That brought the company $26.3 million in more revenue and 1.9 million in Active Diners.

In all, it sees $1.3 billion in "combined Gross Food Sales" on its platform, with roughly 28,800 restaurants across 600 cities in the United States. It is currently seeing 135,000 combined daily orders, on average.

The company also noted a significant increase in mobile orders in the past year, going from 20% in the last quarter of 2011 to 43% in the last quarter of 2013.

Citigroup and Morgan Stanley will act as joint book-running managers for the proposed offering.

GrubHub had initially filed confidentially, taking advantage of a provision in the Jumpstart Our Business Startup (JOBS) Act last year that allows companies to file to go public without letting anyone know about it. 

Only companies with less than $1 billion in revenue can file this way. The JOBS Act loosened regulations for what it called "emerging growth companies," which only applies to companies that make that much in revenue.

According to the bill, companies are allowed to file for an IPO confidentially, meaning that they do not have to disclose anything about the company until 21 days before the start of its road show, where it will have to market itself to investors, if the company ever even decides to have one.

This is the method that Twitter used for its IPO last year, and the same one that Box is reportedly using as well. The point being that it allows companies to test the waters, and see how the market is shaping up, without any extra scrutiny from the public. 

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