Nokia to buy travel social network Dopplr
Nokia has acquired Dopplr, a London-based social network focused on traveling, TechCrunch reports, based on information reportedly passed on by an anonymous source close to the deal. The deal continues Nokia’s fierce acquisition strategy, which has already rolled up small companies like Plum, Bit-Side and Cellity just in the last year.
Clearly, neither of the companies involved have confirmed the financial terms of the deal, however the TechCrunch post estimates the purchase price at 10 –… Continue Reading
Trip-planning site TravelMuse zooms ahead with $2M
TravelMuse, a web site and widget maker that allows users to make, save and book elaborate travel plans, has raised $2 million of an anticipated $3.9 million in debt and equity funding, according to VentureWire. Based in Los Altos, Calif., the company gained $517,000 of that oney from the conversion of promissory notes into preferred stock. It had raised $3.5 million in a first round of venture funding in 2007 from Azure Capital Partners, California… Continue Reading
Plugg conference finalists to present in Brussels: Discount for our readers
In Brussels on March 12, Plugg, the European startup conference organized by TechCrunch’s Robin Wauters, promises to be an excellent event with a host of knowledgeable speakers and lively competition.
Wauters has extended a 15 percent discount off the €450 registration price. Simply head on over to the sign-up page hosted by Amiando and enter the promotional code plugg09-media-venturebeat at the bottom.
Presenting at the event will be some of Europe’s most prolific tech pundits, each of… Continue Reading
TravelMuse launches new widget, scores $600K
It’s a good week for trip planning website TravelMuse. It launched its first application, the TravelMuse Plan-It!, which allows users to collect travel information from a range of sites in one centralized location — and then share it with their friends. On top of that, it brought in $600,000 in first-round funding from Azure Capital Partners.
The widget, designed for placement on travel blogs, lets users quickly save content by clicking on a Plant-It! icon on… Continue Reading
Dopplr lands on the radar of some of the internet’s bigger names, raises cash
Updated
Dopplr, a site that lets you share your jet-setting travel plans with your jet-setting friends, has raised a second round of undisclosed size from a plethora of jet-setters from the world of tech.
The site, which we first covered in September, clearly caters to business travelers and the elite. Its investors, including Esther Dyson, Del.ico.us founder Joshua Schacter, Thomson Reuters CEO Tom Glocer and a host of other people with a lot more frequent flier miles… Continue Reading
Travel startup UpTake set to launch opinions super-site
With so many online travel sites crowding the market, you’d think we were nearing a Web 2.0 travel bubble. But according to travel information search engine UpTake, which is launching May 14, there’s still an untapped niche in the market: a travel-opinions supersite.
The market is extremely fragmented with thousands of micro-sites for individual hotels, beaches, airlines and leisure activities. UpTake’s goal is to gather opinions from all of those sites together and become the most… Continue Reading
Boom for travel sites — Can they make money?
Travel sites are in fashion this spring, with new sites adding at a steady pace. Finnish travel site TripSay is just the latest to emerge, for example, with ways to share tips about travel. It’s still in closed testing, but it plans to open to the public in a few months.
With hundreds of travel sites now existing — ranging from the big ones like Expedia to the small, single-author blogs dedicated to travel — how… Continue Reading
TripIt raises $5.1M to better organize your travels
As someone who has been home for one weekend of the past six, I know that traveling can be a real pain. While the Internet has eased some burdens such as scheduling and price hunting, it has also created new ones, such as organizing trip details when plans are often made across several sites. That is where a site like TripIt comes in.
There are a lot of online traveling sites such as Kayak (our coverage),… Continue Reading
Dopplr, a trip-sharing site for the jet set
Dopplr, a Helsinki, Finland company that lets frequent travelers share their trips with friends and so that they make notes on each other’s itineraries, has raised an undisclosed amount of financing from individual investors.
Sharing travel plans isn’t new. A plethora of sites offers ways to consult with others on travel plans, from MyTripbook, to RealTravel to Tripwiser. The difference is, most other travel sites offer trip-sharing as part of a much larger palette of offerings.
Dopplr… Continue Reading