Dustin Coupal

Dustin Coupal is a co-founder of GasBuddy GasBuddyGasBuddy is a North American crowdsourced gas-price website and mobile app on which drivers report and look up real-time prices at gas stations; it later added money-saving services such as a fuel discount card, cash back, and memberships. Since 2021 it has been owned by PDI Technologies, a software company serving gas stations and convenience stores.Open the full entry, the crowdsourced gas-price website and app. He and Jason Toews Jason ToewsJason Toews is a co-founder of GasBuddy, the crowdsourced gas-price website and app, which he launched with Dustin Coupal in 2000; he repeatedly spoke to the media on the company’s behalf and stayed on after OPIS acquired it in 2013. In 2022, he took part in acquiring AbaData, a Canadian energy geographic information software company, and became its chief executive officer.Open the full entry launched the first GasBuddy website in June 2000, and the two also founded OpenStore, a digital marketing platform for gas stations and convenience stores; in March 2013, both companies were acquired by Oil Price Information Service (OPIS). In July 2024, he joined the board of the energy software company AbaData as an investor.

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Key facts

June 2000Founding GasBuddy With Jason Toews

In the summer of 2000, Coupal and Jason Toews came up with the idea of a gas-price sharing website because they were frequently overpaying for gas. The GasBuddy Organization they founded began as a collection of local websites that let the public freely share gas prices at stations in their areas, and the first website went live in June 2000; the service was free to users and relied on advertising revenue to fund its operations and development.⁠[1][2][2][2]

March 1, 2013GasBuddy and OpenStore Acquired by OPIS

Coupal and Toews also founded OpenStore, which provided websites, mobile apps, and multi-channel marketing services for gas stations and convenience stores and was founded and operated by the same management team as GasBuddy. On March 1, 2013, Oil Price Information Service (OPIS), a petroleum pricing information company owned by UCG, announced that it had acquired GasBuddy and its sister company OpenStore, with Horizon Partners serving as financial advisor to GasBuddy and OpenStore. OPIS Chief Executive Officer Brian Crotty said he looked forward to working shoulder-to-shoulder with the two co-founders and their team.⁠[3][3][4][3][4][4][4]

January 26, 2016GasBuddy Names a New Chief Executive Officer

On January 26, 2016, GasBuddy announced that Walt Doyle would become chief executive officer and that it was opening a Boston office; co-founders Coupal and Toews remained on the leadership team to advise on product and growth strategies.⁠[5][5]

July 30, 2024Investing in AbaData and Joining Its Board

On July 30, 2024, the energy software company AbaData announced in Calgary that it had acquired the field operations software company OpLYNX, and that Coupal had become an investor in AbaData and joined its Board of Directors; Toews was then AbaData’s chief executive officer. AbaData provides software for the energy, renewables, environmental, and utilities industries and has offices in Calgary, Red Deer, Edmonton, and Regina.⁠[6][6][6][6]