Farecast Closes $7 Million In Series B Funding
SEATTLE–July 21, 2005 — Farecast, formerly known as Hamlet Inc., announced today the completion of a $7 million Series B funding. Greylock Partners led the round, with investments from existing investors Madrona Venture Group and WRF Capital. Farecast will apply its patent pending prediction technologies to deliver an innovative, leisure-focused, online travel experience.
The Series B funding will be used primarily for continued technology, product and team development. This round of funding follows a $1.5 million Series A financing from Madrona Venture Group and WRF Capital in October 2004.
"We are thrilled to have Greylock join Madrona and WRF as investors in Farecast," said Hugh Crean, president and CEO of Farecast, and former National Leisure Group and Priceline executive. "With this new funding, we are well positioned to introduce a unique approach to online travel and I'm excited to be a part of the growing team."
"In the United States last year, more than $50 billion was spent online in travel and a majority of those transactions were airline tickets," said Moshe Mor, general partner at Greylock Partners. "We believe Farecast is poised to make a significant impact on how online travel consumers search for and purchase travel products."
"Farecast has developed a technology that will create a dynamic shift in how travel information is accessed and utilized and we are pleased to continue to play an active role in the company's development," stated Matt McIlwain, managing director, Madrona Venture Group. "This latest round, along with the management team's proven ability to execute in the online travel market, will fuel its continued success and future offering."
Mor will represent Greylock Partners on the Farecast Board of Directors, joining Madrona's Matt McIlwain, Farecast founder and University of Washington computer science professor, Oren Etzioni, and president and CEO, Hugh Crean.
About Greylock Partners
Founded in 1965, Greylock Partners is one of the world's leading early-stage venture capital firms. Over the past 40 years, Greylock has funded and helped build several hundred successful companies in the US, Israel and Europe. The Greylock approach uniquely puts the entrepreneur first, with Greylock working as an 'invited guest' in a highly supportive yet consultative way to help entrepreneurs build market-leading companies. Companies Greylock has funded include Ascend Communications, Continental Cable, DoubleClick, Internet Security Systems, Legato, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Phone.com (now OpenWave), Tellabs, Trilogy, Red Hat and Sungard. Greylock's offices are located in the Boston area and in Silicon Valley. For more information, visit www.greylock.com.
About Madrona Venture Group
Madrona Venture Group LLC is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on the information technology economy in the Pacific Northwest. The firm targets investments in technology companies, with an emphasis on enterprise software and services, consumer software and services, and wireless, networking and infrastructure. Based in Seattle, Madrona Venture Group has over $300 million under management and investments in companies such as Impinj, Isilon Systems and ShareBuilder. For more information, visit www.madrona.com.