Lateral, the pan-European software development company, has signed a three year deal with NASDAQ-listed Travelzoo to becomes its “technology Solutions provider”.
Prior to today’s announcement, the two companies had already been working together with Lateral powering Travelzoo’s attempt at getting into the daily deals space with its own Groupon-clone. The newly formed partnership will also see Lateral’s co-founder and CEO Ciprian Morar serve as Vice President, Innovation at Travelzoo reporting to its CEO, Chris Loughlin.
So in a sense, Travelzoo, which primarily focuses on finding and offering consumers deals in the travel and related entertainment sectors, is outsourcing its technology development, which is quite a coup for Lateral. This is to also include licensing Explorra.com’s Travel Connect platform from Lateral.
Morar, of course, has form in the innovation business: He was part of the “startup team” at Expedia in Europe where he served for over four years, while Lateral’s clients include Virgin Holidays, LexisNexis, SportingBet, Blacktomato, VisualDNA, and Healix Group.
Travelzoo claims 21 million “subscribers” in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific and 24 offices worldwide.