Room 77 Shacks up with VCs For $30M Round

PRESS RELEASE:

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (January 3, 2013) – Hotel metasearch engine Room 77 today announced it has closed $30.3 million in Series C financing with participation from new investor Expedia,Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE). The company’s existing investors also participated, including Sutter Hill Ventures, General Catalyst Partners, Concur Technologies, Felicis Ventures as well as Expedia’s founder Rich Barton, former Expedia CEO Erik Blachford and Spencer Rascoff, CEO of Zillow. This brings Room 77’s total capital raised to $43.8 million.
Room 77 is pioneering a better way for travelers to shop for hotels, instantly searching hundreds of travel sites at once to find the best hotel at the best price. Since launching its hotel metasearch platform just a year ago, Room 77 bookings and revenue have accelerated dramatically. In the past nine months alone, the company has driven hundreds of thousands room nights through its marketplace, recording significant month-over-month growth.
By combining fast and comprehensive search technology with unprecedented service, Room 77 is proving it helps users save time and money – and score a great room. Based on internal analysis of more than five million hotel searches, Room 77 uncovers at least one lower price for travelers in two out of three searches, averaging $72 per stay. And, only Room 77 offers free Room ConciergeTM service, which leverages the company’s proprietary room data, such as blueprints and simulated RoomViewSM technology, to help travelers get in a great room when they book through Room 77. The company’s consistently high savings and service levels garner high marks from customers, contributing to a repeat booking rate of more than 50percent.
“We believe metasearch is an increasingly important model and complementary to our travel transaction businesses,” said Dara Khosrowshahi, Expedia, Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer. “The level of innovation and depth of content at Room 77 excites us about its future role in this important customer acquisition channel.”
“Room 77 is obsessed with helping travelers uncover the best hotel deal anywhere in onefast and easy search,” said Kevin Fliess, chief operating officer of Room 77, Inc. “Our investors recognize the inherent value of metasearch and the importance of rapid innovation in this category, and we’re delighted to welcome Expedia, Inc. to this esteemed group. As recent events in this category demonstrate, hotel metasearch represents a massive market and huge global opportunity. This round will only help Room 77 grow our marketplace to helptravelers around the world find great hotel deals that, in turn, drives incremental business and revenue to our hotel and travel agency partners.”

Room 77 expects to use the additional capital to grow its team with top talent, expand into new markets, increase investment in product, engineering and room-level content, and step up its marketing efforts to build a world-class brand.

Simultaneous with the closing of this round, Jim White, managing director of Sutter Hill Ventures, has joined the Room 77 board of directors. Additional financial details regarding the round were not disclosed.

The hotel vertical represents the largest and most profitable category in online travel, accounting for approximately two billion room nights and more than $165 billion in gross bookings annually1.

In addition to Room77.com, travelers can shop for hotels using the Room 77 hotel app for iPhone®, available in the App Store, and on AndroidTM in Google Play.

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