Tech Dealmaker Awards

Hafner

Kayak.com of Norwalk, Conn., was not the largest travel site for most of 2007, but it was one of the best — it laid claim to a host of awards from such leading U.S. media as Time and Travel & Leisure.

Still, as vice president of marketing Drew Patterson explains, Kayak.com had to grow. Smaller players get absorbed or go under easily. In December 2007, Kayak.com announced $196 million in financing, a merger with niche player SideStep Inc., and aggressive worldwide expansion plans.

The financing came from Sequoia Capital and existing and new investors. Sequoia’s Michael Moritz joined Kayak.com’s board of directors, Kayak.com and SideStep suited one another perfectly, according to Kayak, with barely 10 percent customer overlap, a strong European customer base from Sidestep and a solid U.S. base from Kayak.com. The merger created the fifth-largest travel brand, serving almost every airline and every hotel and rental car agency. And it created a first-rate customer experience between Kayak.com’s search technology, and SideStep.com’s travel guides and objective hotel reviews.

The impact has been to “catapult us in the online travel market,” says Patterson. “We’re doing the same volume as name-brand travel companies like Orbitz LLC that have been marketing to consumers for over a decade.” Now Kayak.com has websites throughout Europe with plans to add more in Europe and Asia.

— Dann Anthony Maurno

Category

Financial Investment

The Deal

Kayak.com received a $196 million financing round, which it used to acquire SideStep Inc. Investors included Sequoia Capital, existing investors General Catalyst Partners and Accel Partners, SideStep investors Norwest Venture Partners and Trident Capital, new investors Oak Investment Partners and Lehman Brothers Venture Partners, and debt lenders Silicon Valley Bank and Gold Hill Capital. Announced Dec. 21, 2007

Key Executives

Kayak.com CEO Steve Hafner; Paul English, CIO

Deal advisers

The Kayak.com management team

• Platinum Sponsor:
• Gold Sponsors: Capital Source
  Silicon Valley Bank
  TM Capital
  Vitale, Caturano & Co.
• Silver Sponsors: Capital IQ
  Citizens Bank
• Supporting Sponsors: Mass High Tech
  Preston Productions
  Trinity Communications

Become a Sponsor »