Expedia and Concur team up for $30 million funding round for Room 77
Skift Take
Once derided by many in the travel industry, travel metasearch has come of age and is viewed by Expedia, Priceline and others as a necessary weapon in an assault on global growth. Expedia is hedging its bets and playing the field with Trivago and Room 77.
Expedia Inc. joined some of hotel-metasearch company Room 77's existing investors in a $30.3 million Series C financing round in the latest chess move as online travel agencies grab a piece of the comparison-shopping market.
The investment binge, which brings Room 77's total funding since 2010 to $43.6 million, follows the still-pending Priceline $1.8 billion acquisition of Kayak, and Expedia's own $632 million deal to take a 62% stake in Germany's Trivago.
Expedia joined Room 77 existing investors Sutter Hill Ventures, General Catalyst Partners (a Kayak investor until the Priceline deal closes), Concur Technologies, Felicis Ventures, Expedia founder and Zillow chairman Rich Barton, ex-Expedia CEO Erik Blachford, and Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff in the funding round.
That's a lot of Exp
