Microsoft’s Shopping List

Let Yahoo deal with its mess, Microsoft should go cold turkey on them for a year now, and let Jerry Yang get fired for failing to create shareholder value. A far more interesting question looms on the Microsoft side. What is Microsoft’s Internet strategy going forward?

Deal Radar 2008: MakeMyTrip

Rated India’s #1 Travel Website (by JuxtConsult), MakeMyTrip has carved a niche for itself in the eight years since its inception in 2000. It started out as a service for the booming USA to India NRI travel market and has now evolved to include airline tickets, hotel reservations, holiday packages, car rentals and several other

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Deal Radar 2008: Yatra

Yatra is a travel company which provides availability and booking facilities for air travel, hotels, buses and car rentals worldwide. Besides its strong online presence, Yatra also offers its services through mobile phone and retail mediums. Founded by Dhruv Shringi, Manish Amin and Sabina Chopra in 2006, the company currently is based in 10 cities

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Deal Radar 2008: Cleartrip

As part of our extensive coverage of online travel, this week, we will take a look at the Indian Online Travel industry. We begin with Cleartrip.

Catching Up on Readings: Bootstrap Yourself!

Amidst the ocean of content that is coming at you, readers, I am sure you find yourselves overwhelmed. Here’s a recap of some articles from this site which you may have missed, but may be worth your time:

Travel Ad Network Raises Series A

Travel Ad Network (TAN), the largest vertical ad network in travel, just closed a $15 million Series A round of financing led by Rho Ventures, Village Ventures and individual investors. And what a Series A it is! $50-$75 Million valuation, estimated in my deal radar post and commensurate with the trends in the industry set

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Deal Radar 2008: Groople, Interesting Use of Context

Groople is an online group travel site, which helps with searching, planning and booking group travel. (Read my Interview with Groople CEO Mike Stacy) Groople is different from Expedia and Kayak in that it serves only group travelers, no individuals, and is thus a great focus on a specific “Context“.

Deal Radar 2008: Travel Ad Network Executing Flawlessly

Travel Ad Network (TAN) is the leading vertical ad network focused exclusively on travel. It reaches users across 50 websites including Lonely Planet, Kayak, RandMcNally, Skybus Airlines, Groople, TravelHero, BootsNAll, AreaGuides, HotelsByCity, EuropeForVisitors, AirGorilla, and many others. Top advertisers with TAN include American Express, Vacations to Go, Best Western, Netherlands Tourism, Tourism Australia, etc.