March 13th, 2009

FanSnap Is The New Kayak For Event Ticket Searches

Event tickets are a big business and startup FanSnap is entering the game with a compelling ticket search engine. FanSnap is launching the public beta of its nifty Kayak-like live ticket search engine for sports, concerts, and theater events. FanSnap, through partnerships, provides free ticket search results for close to 60 of the leading ticket providers, including StubHub, eBay, Ace Tickets… → Read More

February 15th, 2009

Travelzoo's Fly.com Launches Yet Another Travel Search Aggregator

Publicly traded travel site Travelzoo has launched the beta version of its new comprehensive airfare search engine, Fly.com. At first glance, Fly.com is a Kayak-look alike (except that Fly.com searches are limited to airfares only). The two sites offer virtually the same feature in searches, except that Fly.com’s price comparison sites are limited to Priceline and Hotwire, whereas Kayak offers… → Read More

October 2nd, 2008

What Will Happen to Lehman's Startup Orphans?

As Lehman Brothers sells off its assets following its bankruptcy, there is still a big question as to what will happen to its venture arm and, more importantly, how any change in ownership will affect the companies in which Lehman Brothers Venture Partners holds a stake. Like many investment banks, Lehman got into venture investing in the mid-1990s to try to capture some of those venture returns. → Read More

July 23rd, 2008

Trouble in Online Travel: American Airlines Ditches Kayak (Maybe Orbitz Too)

After years of ceding the upper hand in online travel to booking sites like Kayak and Orbitz, American Airlines is about to fight back. According to the CEO of a competing travel site, American Airlines is about to pull its airline listings out of Kayak and is considering doing the same with Orbitz. If it does so, other airlines such as Continental and Northwest may follow suit. Airlines… → Read More

May 23rd, 2008

Mobissimo Has Raised 1/223 The Capital Of Kayak (And Out Executes Them)

Connecticut startup Kayak has raised $223 million in venture capital and employs 58 people to build and grow its travel search site. Its chief competitor, San Francisco based Mobissimo, has raised $1 million and has just 15 employees. Mobissimo also became profitable last year, and the company doesn’t have to raise more money unless it’s to fuel faster growth or acquisitions. → Read More

February 8th, 2008

Farecast Now Offers International Flight Price Predictions

Seattle based Farecast, a service that predicts and guarantees airline prices, has expanded its reach outside of the United States, with international coverage in key markets. Farecast, which launched in May 2006, tries to predict flight price changes for consumers so they know whether to buy now or wait. In late 2006 they added guarantees, effectively allowing consumers to buy insurance policies… → Read More

January 10th, 2008

Yahoo Travel Chases Kayak With FareChase

Last night, Yahoo signaled that it is serious about competing in the travel price-comparison search market in the wake of Kayak’s recent $200 million acquisition of Sidestep. Yahoo Travel put its FareChase property, formerly a tab, front and center on the travel homepage. FareChase is now the default search engine for pricing flights, hotels, cars, and vacations. [Update: Yahoo says it is… → Read More

December 20th, 2007

Breaking: Kayak Raises $196 Million, Buys Rival SideStep

Discount travel site Kayak has acquired rival SideStep for $200 million. This story was set to be announced tomorrow but word is leaking all over the place after Sidestep CEO Rob Solomon told his company employees the news at an all hands meeting. This is a two part deal. Kayak raised $196 million in a new round of financing from their existing investors (Sequoia Capital, General Catalyst Partners… → Read More