Kayak.com Secures $7 Million in Series B Financing
Sequoia Capital joins Existing Investors General Catalyst Partners and America Online Total Funding Increases to $15.5 Million
NORWALK, CT - December 21, 2004 - Kayak.com, a website that helps consumers get comprehensive and objective travel information, today announced the completion of a $7 million Series B financing round led by Sequoia Capital, a California-based venture capital firm. Kayak.com is only the third East Coast company Sequoia Capital has funded in the last two years.
The company has now raised a total of $15.5 million to create the next generation of online travel. The additional funding will be used to further product development and expand marketing.
Kayak.com was founded by the creators of Expedia, Orbitz, and Travelocity in January 2004 to satisfy the demand of internet users for a clear, objective and comprehensive source of online travel information. Web-based services are the foundation of the $55 billion spent on online travel in the U.S today. Yet online travel consumers exhibit limited loyalty, using an average of 2.5 sites and offline agents in their research [1]. Kayak.com addresses consumer frustration by providing comprehensive rates and relevant objective information as well as giving users choice of where to book.
“Beyond the fact that the company has five letters in its name (like Cisco, Apple, Atari and Yahoo!), we chose to invest in Kayak.com because of its founders’ deep and genuine desire to provide a better, fairer and impartial travel service for the growing community of internet users,” said Michael Moritz, a Partner with Sequoia Capital.
“We are delighted to welcome Sequoia Capital as an investor in Kayak.com,” said Steve Hafner, Kayak.com CEO and co-founder. “This financing is a strong validation of our vision, business direction, and management team. Kayak.com now has a far greater financial foundation from which to grow.”
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
