Kayak.com Secures $196M Financing Round

Announces Merger with SideStep, Inc. to Become the World's Fifth Largest

Travel Site

    NORWALK, Conn., Dec. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Kayak.com, the world's largest
 travel search engine, today announced the completion of a $196 million
 financing round. Kayak.com will use this investment to complete a merger
 with SideStep, Inc. and to pursue a more aggressive worldwide expansion. As
 part of this transaction, Michael Moritz of Sequoia Capital will join
 Kayak.com's Board of Directors.
 
     "Kayak.com has become the Internet's best destination for clear and
 objective travel information," said Michael Moritz, Partner at Sequoia
 Capital. "Kayak.com's merger with SideStep.com reshapes the largest sector
 in online commerce."
 
     Other participants in the financing round include existing Kayak.com
 investors General Catalyst Partners and Accel Partners, SideStep investors
 Norwest Venture Partners and Trident Capital, new investors Oak Investment
 Partners and Lehman Brothers Venture Partners, and debt lenders Silicon
 Valley Bank and Gold Hill Capital.
 
     In parallel with the new financing, a subsidiary of Kayak.com will
 merge with SideStep.com, the Internet's first travel search company. This
 transaction combines the two biggest brands in travel search, which would
 make Kayak.com and its affiliate sites the fifth largest travel brand, with
 more monthly unique visitors than Priceline, every airline except
 Southwest, and every hotel and rental car brand(1). Consumers will conduct
 more than 33 million searches on Kayak.com and its affiliates in January
 2008, up from 16 million in January 2007.
 
     Kayak.com intends to maintain both the SideStep.com and Kayak.com
 brands and will develop and promote each site independently, with key
 SideStep.com personnel joining Kayak.com's team. The merger will combine
 best practices of each company, and users of Kayak.com and SideStep.com
 will benefit from access to more comprehensive rates and availability data,
 a larger portfolio of products and services and an overall improved
 customer experience.
 
     "The commercial logic of this deal is obvious," said Steve Hafner,
 Kayak.com CEO and co-founder. "Kayak.com is a technology company focused on
 perfecting travel search, and SideStep.com is a media company with in-house
 sales expertise and user-generated content. By merging, each brand can
 improve its offering while continuing to focus on its individual strengths.
 With less than 10 percent overlap between existing Kayak.com and
 SideStep.com users, each site stands to gain millions of new users(2)."
 
     "Kayak.com's focus on customer service and rapid innovation has led to
 the best air and hotel search technology on the web," said Paul English,
 CTO and co-founder of Kayak.com. "Combined with SideStep.com's travel
 guides and hotel reviews, both sites have a more complete offering for
 travellers than ever before. As a native Bostonian, I am also personally
 gratified to finally see an East Coast technology firm purchasing a West
 Coast counterpart."
 
     One of the fastest growing sites on the Internet, Kayak.com exploded
 onto the North American market in 2005 and emerged as a top tier travel
 site in less than two years. Kayak.com won more awards in 2007 than any
 other travel site, including several from leading US media such as TIME,
 Travel + Leisure and Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine, as well as UK
 publications including Sunday Times, The Telegraph and The Observer.
 
     The new financing and the SideStep.com merger will accelerate
 Kayak.com's international expansion plans. Kayak.com currently has websites
 in the UK, France, Germany and Spain, and will soon launch in Italy.
 SideStep.com's website in Ireland and its European affiliates will add to
 Kayak.com's global business. Kayak.com will also announce several anchor
 affiliate deals in Europe in the coming months and is currently evaluating
 opportunities throughout Europe and Asia.
 
     "From its inception as the first travel search engine, SideStep.com
 believed that consumers would prefer an objective and comprehensive travel
 shopping experience," said Rob Solomon, CEO of SideStep.com. "Joining
 forces with Kayak.com will help make this vision a reality for mass market
 consumers."
 
     About Kayak.com
 
     Kayak.com, the world's largest travel search engine, displays results
 from more than 400 travel sites, providing prices and itineraries for
 hundreds of airlines, more than 90,000 hotels, all leading rental car
 companies and 18 cruise lines. Kayak.com was named "100 Best Products of
 2007" by PC World; "25 Sites We Can't Live Without" by TIME Magazine; "Best
 Search Engine" by the Associated Press; and "Best of the Web" by
 BusinessWeek, Forbes.com and US News & World Report. Launched in 2005 by
 co-founders of Orbitz, Travelocity and Expedia, Kayak.com's investors
 include General Catalyst Partners, Sequoia Capital, Accel Partners, Oak
 Investment Partners, Lehman Brothers Venture Partners and America Online,
 Inc. Kayak.com has sites in the UK, France, Germany and Spain. For more
 information, visit www.Kayak.com.
 
     About SideStep.com
 
     SideStep.com, the Internet's first travel search company, delivers a
 comprehensive selection of travel choices at the best prices. SideStep.com
 has been named one of TIME Magazine's "50 Coolest Web Sites," a PC World
 "World Class Site" and one of its "Best Products of 2006," and declared
 "Best of the Web" by both Forbes and BusinessWeek Online. Headquartered in
 Santa Clara, California, SideStep.com is privately held and has raised more
 than $30 million in funding from Trident Capital, Norwest Venture Partners,
 PAR Capital, Saints Capital and Leader Ventures. For more information,
 visit www.sidestep.com.
 
 

   (1) Based on comScore Media Metrix Digital Calculator Report for unique
       visitors during the month of November 2007. Digital calculation
       includes Kayak.com and SideStep.com visits as well as visits from
       Kayak.com affiliate partners including About.com, Comcast, LonelyPlanet,
       Rand McNally and USA Today.
 
   (2) Overlap percentage based on an internal comparison of internet protocol
       addresses in combination with browser versions of Kayak.com users versus
       SideStep.com users.
 
 

SOURCE Kayak.com