SOURCE: UpTake Networks
September 17, 2008 09:00 ET
UpTake Raises $10 Million to Expand Product Offering and Accelerate Growth
Travel Search and Discovery Engine Will Develop New Product Features and Capitalize on Strategic Opportunities for the Company; Announces New Content Partner Program
PALO ALTO, CA--(Marketwire - September 17, 2008) - Travel search and discovery engine UpTake (www.uptake.com) today announced
it has raised more than $10 million in new funding, including a Series B
round of investment led by Trinity Ventures and Shasta Ventures, and
additional backing from other sources. The new funding builds on the
company's Series A round of $4 million from Shasta Ventures announced in
December 2007, when UpTake opened the site to its first private beta users.
Founded by the former GM of Yahoo! Travel Yen Lee, UpTake went into public
beta in May with the travel industry's most comprehensive database for
hotels and attractions. UpTake's vacation search helps travelers make
better decisions by providing more than 20 million online reviews and
opinions from other travelers across the web, and delivering results that
match user preferences. The site includes content from thousands of trusted
web sites like TripAdvisor, Expedia, Fodors, goCityKids, Virtual Tourist,
and Yahoo! Travel.
UpTake will use the new funding to achieve three main objectives for the
company and its product. First, it will expand search beyond UpTake Hotels into new categories including:
UpTake Lodging, UpTake Things to Do, UpTake Restaurants and UpTake Beaches. Second, UpTake will invest
in its search technology to improve travel recommendations based on its
analysis and filtering of collective intelligence. Lastly, it will pursue
opportunities to grow the company through acquisitions.
"We looked at dozens of investment opportunities in the online travel
industry for several years before deciding to invest in UpTake," said
Patricia Nakache, general partner, Trinity Ventures. "UpTake has a
distinct approach that addresses a big search and discovery gap in the
travel market and is run by a proven CEO and team."
UpTake is also unveiling a new Content Partner Program, enabling publishers
to provide the most up-to-date content to the UpTake visitor. UpTake
partners include: BedandBreakfast.com, Restauranti.ca, OpenTable, La Quinta
Inn & Suites, Away.com, and FriendCommunications, the leader in online
reservations for RV parks and campgrounds.
"Bedandbreakfast.com has the most comprehensive database of B&Bs and UpTake
has the most comprehensive database of travel information to help travelers
make more informed decisions to improve their vacation experience. By
joining UpTake's Content Partner program, BedandBreakfast.com and UpTake
are working together to ensure that travelers can find the right B&B given
their travel preferences," said John Banczak, chief operating officer of
BedandBreakfast.com.
About UpTake
Founded in 2006, UpTake has
collected and organized more than 20 million traveler reviews, ratings,
blogs and articles from across the web to help travelers to make better
decisions about where to go, where to stay and what to do. UpTake uses a
travel ontology and natural language analysis to extract meta-tags from the
collective intelligence it has collected and returns unbiased, personalized
recommendations based on travelers' facts and feelings. The company is
headquartered in Palo Alto, California with global engineering teams in
Beijing and Moscow. More information can be found at www.uptake.com.
'Sun logo' is a trademark of UpTake Networks, Inc.