Jason Toews

Toews and Dustin Coupal were childhood friends. After the two left small-town Saskatchewan, Canada, to go to school in the United States, they found that gas prices varied widely from one American neighborhood to another.⁠[1][1]

Toews is a computer programmer who has described himself as a longtime gas-price enthusiast always looking for the best deal. In the summer of 2000, he and Coupal, an eye doctor and computer hobbyist, came up with the idea of a gas-price sharing website because they were frustrated by constantly overpaying for gas. In June 2000, the first GasBuddy website went live. It began as a collection of local websites where the public could share gas prices free of charge, with drivers voluntarily reporting the prices they saw. Toews later recalled that at first hardly anybody used the site.⁠[2][2][3][4][4][5][5]

On April 6, 2004, GasBuddy Organization Inc. was registered in Minnesota, United States, as a domestic business corporation, with its principal office in Brooklyn Park and Toews listed as chief executive officer. During rising gas prices in May of that year, the site drew about 400,000 unique visitors a day, compared with about 40,000 in January; at the time it had 174 local domain names.⁠[6][6][6][2][2]

In April 2006, appearing on an NPR program as co-founder of GasBuddy.com, Toews explained that the site’s prices were mostly reported by ordinary motorists and that the company would ban users found posting inaccurate prices. In May 2007, Toews, who lived in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, told the Associated Press that the site was likely to break its record of 4 million visitors in a single day; the site had not made him or Coupal millionaires, but advertising revenue was enough to sustain the operation.⁠[7][7][7][7][5][5][5][5]

In March 2011, Toews, described as the Regina-based co-founder of GasBuddy, told The Globe and Mail that the GasBuddy app had averaged three million downloads a month since its release the previous December. In March 2012, he said on an NPR program that the company received about 500,000 gas price reports every day and planned to let users enter separate cash and credit prices in the app and on the website.⁠[8][8][9][9]

On March 1, 2013, Oil Price Information Service (OPIS), a portfolio company of the business information group UCG, announced that it had acquired GasBuddy. Toews and Coupal were co-founders of both GasBuddy and its sister company OpenStore, a digital marketing platform for gas station convenience stores, and the two companies were sold together. Toews said the deal would give GasBuddy access to OPIS’s enormous database of spot and wholesale gasoline prices and its daily news wire. After the sale, the two founders remained at GasBuddy.⁠[10][11][11][10][12]

On January 26, 2016, GasBuddy announced Walt Doyle as chief executive officer along with the opening of a Boston office. Toews said Doyle and his team were the catalyst the company needed to enter a new chapter of growth and expansion and would help turn GasBuddy into a global brand; he and Coupal remained on the leadership team to advise on product and growth strategies.⁠[13][13][13][13]

In 2022, Toews co-acquired AbaData Ltd. of Red Deer, Alberta, Canada, with BDO Canada acting as advisor to the seller; the transaction page was published on July 13, 2022. Founded in 1992, AbaData develops web-based geographic information system mapping software whose products are used in industries including oil and gas, utilities, and renewables. After the acquisition, Toews joined AbaData and became its chief executive officer; as of October 2026, AbaData is headquartered in Calgary.⁠[14][14][14][14][14][15][15][15]

On September 1, 2023, AbaData announced the acquisition of TRIAGE by Trusted Pipeline Advisor, software that uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to analyze pipeline performance and assess risk.⁠[16][16]

On July 30, 2024, AbaData announced the acquisition of OpLYNX, a Western Canadian company specializing in field operation software and data management; at the same time, Coupal, GasBuddy’s other co-founder, became an investor in AbaData and joined its board of directors. Speaking as chief executive officer, Toews said the acquisition was a significant milestone in the company’s growth strategy.⁠[17][17][17]

On September 23, 2025, AbaData announced the acquisition of HUDU Pipelines, a provider of pipeline integrity and field operations software. Toews said the acquisition both strengthened the company’s core business in Canada and would accelerate its expansion into the U.S. and global markets.⁠[18][18][18]

AbaData: Official website: https://www.abadata.ca/ (opens in a new window).⁠[15]

GasBuddy: Official website: https://www.gasbuddy.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[4]

LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Public profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-toews-8a34a610/ (opens in a new window)⁠[15]