ITA Software Announces $100 Million in Equity Financing
Established Technology Provider’s Funding to Fuel Expansion of its Innovative Shopping and Reservation
(Cambridge, MA, January 23, 2006) - ITA Software, Inc., the first company in more than thirty years to provide a new IT platform for the airline industry, today announced $100 million in equity financing. Led by Battery Ventures, the round includes participation from General Catalyst Partners, PAR Investment Partners, Sequoia Capital and Spectrum Equity. The funding will be used to help ITA Software expand upon its success with top travel companies such as Alaska Airlines, Alitalia, Continental Airlines, US Airways, Galileo, Kayak and Orbitz.
“Most airlines still depend on software and systems developed before Woodstock. Since then the industry has been buffeted by deregulation, a string of bankruptcies and the emergence of low cost carriers,” said Michael Moritz, partner at Sequoia Capital. “The only airlines that will prosper in the future are those that embrace fresher technology and the Internet. This new approach that ITA Software is championing will strip cost from the industry, allow travel agents to specialize on offering higher value packages and usher in the era of worldwide
self-service.”
ITA Software’s technology is used daily by millions of travelers. Its shopping ystem searches billions of combinations of flights and airfares in order to deliver better and more comprehensive results for a wide range of travel searches. This dramatically enhances the shopping capabilities of airlines and travel agencies.
“Our success powering the shopping for some of the largest airlines and travel agencies positions us to develop the next generation IT platform for the ndustry,” said Jeremy Wertheimer, President & CEO of ITA Software. “As we expand our system to handle reservations, this funding will help us accelerate our partners’ transition from legacy mainframes to modern technologies.”
About Sequoia Capital
Sequoia Capital provides venture capital funding to founders of startups who want to turn business ideas into companies. As the "Entrepreneurs Behind the Entrepreneurs", Sequoia Capital's Partners have worked with innovators such as Steve Jobs of Apple Computer, Larry Ellison of Oracle, Bob Swanson of Linear Technology, Sandy Lerner and Len Bozack of Cisco Systems, Dan Warmenhoven of Network Appliance, Jerry Yang and David Filo of Yahoo!, Jen-Hsun Huang of nVIDIA, Michael Marks of Flextronics, Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen of YouTube and Dominic Orr and Keerti Melkote of Aruba Wireless Networks. To learn more about Sequoia Capital visit www.sequoiacap.com.
Contact:
Michael Moritz
SEQUOIA CAPITAL
moritz@sequoiacap.com
