Hotwire

San Francisco, United States Founded: 2000 • Age: 26 yrs Acquired By IAC
Discounted travel services are booked via opaque pricing platform.

About Hotwire

Hotwire is a company based in San Francisco (United States) founded in 2000 was acquired by IAC in September 2003. Hotwire has raised $77 million across 2 funding rounds from investors including TPG and IAC. Hotwire offers products and services including Hotels Booking, Cars Booking, Flights Booking, and Vacations Booking. Hotwire operates in a competitive market with competitors including StudentUniverse, Jetsetter, Secret Travel, Last Minute Travel and Travel Ticker, among others.

  • Headquarter San Francisco, United States
  • Sectors
    Travel & Hospitality
  • Website category Travel and Tourism
  • Website hotwire.com
  • Social LinkedIn X Facebook
  • Acquired by IAC (Sep 2003)
  • Legal Name Hotwire Inc
Operational Areas
Key Metrics
  • Total Equity Funding
    $77M (USD)

    in 2 rounds

  • Latest Funding Round
    $2M (USD), Series A

    Aug 2003

  • Investors
    TPG

    & 1 more

  • Acquired by
    IAC

    (Sep 2003)

Products & Services of Hotwire

Hotwire offers a comprehensive portfolio of products and services, including Hotels Booking, Cars Booking, Flights Booking, and Vacations Booking.

Hotels Booking
Accommodation Booking

Platform for reserving cheap hotel stays online

Cars Booking
Car Rental

Service for renting vehicles at discounted rates

Flights Booking
Flight Booking

Tool for securing affordable flight tickets

Vacations Booking
Package Deals

System for arranging vacation packages quickly

Apps and channels of Hotwire

Hotwire publishes 1 mobile app with over 1M+ downloads.

Hotwire: Hotel Deals & Travel
Google Play Travel & Local Everyone Free 1M+ downloads
Developer: Hotwire, Inc
View on Google Play

Funding Insights of Hotwire

Hotwire has successfully raised a total of $77M across 2 strategic funding rounds. The most recent funding activity was a Series A round of $2 million completed in August 2003. This substantial capital infusion reflects strong investor confidence in the company's business model, growth potential, and market opportunities. The funding enables strategic expansion, product development, market penetration, and operational scaling to drive long-term value creation and competitive advantage.

  • Total Funding $77M
  • Total Rounds 2
  • Last Round Series A β€” $2M
  • First Round $75M

    (Jan 2000)

  • Investors Count 1

All 2 funding rounds of Hotwire with amounts and investors; the two latest post-money valuations are shown, the rest are part of the premium plan.

DateAmountTransaction NameValuationLead InvestorsInvestors
Aug 2003$2MSeries A––
–
Jan 2000$75MPrivate Equity Round––
Valuation history

2 investors in total: 2 institutional.

Investors in Hotwire

Hotwire has secured backing from 2 investors, including venture fund and institutional investors. Prominent investors backing the company include TPG and IAC.

All
Venture Fund
Institutional
InvestorDescriptionFounded YearDomainLocation
Fund of funds focused on pre-seed and seed-stage companies
1992tpg.comFort Worth, United States
Acquisitions and creations of media and internet brands are managed.
1986iac.comNew York, United States
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Investor details for Hotwire

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  • Round participation
  • Investor portfolios
  • Co-investor network

Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.

People of Hotwire

1 people are tracked at Hotwire (1 in leadership).

NameRoleGroup
Neha Parikh
PresidentLeadership
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Complete people profiles for Hotwire

Full employee and board profiles, team structure, tenure and professional contact details require an active premium plan.

  • Full employee list
  • Team structure
  • Board tenure
  • Professional contacts

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Timeline of Hotwire

4 dated milestones of Hotwire across 3 years, from founding to its latest funding, stage changes and deals.

  1. Founded Hotwire is founded.
  2. Funding First funding round of $75.0M.
  3. Funding Latest funding round, Series A, of $2.0M.
  4. Exit Acquired by IAC.

Competitors of Hotwire

Hotwire operates in a dynamic and competitive business environment, facing competition from various established players and emerging companies in the market. The competitive landscape includes prominent companies such as StudentUniverse, Jetsetter, Secret Travel, Last Minute Travel and Travel Ticker, among others.

Company NameDomainFoundedHQ LocationTotal fundingEmployeesDescription
studentuniverse.com2000Waltham, United States––
Travel deals for students are provided via an online platform.
jetsetter.com2009New York, United States–1,068
Provider of curated travel planning resources
secrettravel.co2017Phoenix, United States––
App platform providing secret deals for flights, hotels, and travel savings.
lastminutetravel.com1996New York, United States––
Provides online booking for last-minute hotels and flights in popular spots.
travel-ticker.com2015San Francisco, United States––
Online travel agency that offers deals and discounts on booking
airfarewatchdog.com2005New York, United States––
Discounted airfares and hotels are booked via an online portal.
farebuzz.com1994New York, United States––
Online platform for booking flights, hotels, vacations, and car rentals services.
beacon.travel2021Oceanside, United States––
Provides discounted travel deals and memberships for hotels, cruises, and activities.
easyclicktravel.com2002Maitland, United States––
Functions as an online travel agent specializing in deals.
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Detailed competitors of Hotwire

The full competitor set, operating metrics and side-by-side benchmarks require an active premium plan.

  • Full competitor set
  • Operating metrics
  • Benchmarks
  • Competitive positioning

Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.

Web traffic of Hotwire

The website of Hotwire (hotwire.com) receives about 1.5M visits a month and ranks #29,378 among all websites worldwide, #841 in Travel and Tourism.

  • Monthly visits
    1.5M
  • Unique visitors
    747.8K

    per month

  • Global rank
    #29,378

    among all websites

  • Category rank
    #841

    Travel and Tourism · Travel and Tourism

Similar websites

Websites whose visitors overlap most with Hotwire. Affinity shows how closely the audiences match.

WebsiteDomainAudience affinityMonthly visitsGlobal rankProfile
travelocity.com
100%
5.1M#10,410View details
priceline.com
100%
30.5M#1,488View details
kayak.com
100%
35.8M#1,115View details
orbitz.com
98%
3M#14,741View details
cheaptickets.com
81%
570.7K#65,728View details
β€’β€’β€’β€’β€’β€’β€’β€’β€’β€’β€’β€’β€’β€’β€’β€’.comβ€’β€’%β€’.β€’M#‒‒‒‒‒–
β€’β€’β€’β€’β€’β€’β€’β€’β€’β€’β€’β€’β€’β€’β€’β€’.comβ€’β€’%β€’.β€’M#‒‒‒‒‒–
β€’β€’β€’β€’β€’β€’β€’β€’β€’β€’β€’β€’β€’β€’β€’β€’.comβ€’β€’%β€’.β€’M#‒‒‒‒‒–
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All 40 similar websites and full traffic analytics for Hotwire

The complete similar-websites list, audience overlap and engagement analytics require an active premium plan.

  • 40 similar websites
  • Audience overlap
  • Engagement analytics
  • Traffic by brand

Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.

Latest news on Hotwire

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Complete news archive for Hotwire

Full article history, source details, and older brand coverage require an active premium plan.

  • Full article archive
  • Source and publication date
  • Older coverage
  • Brand-specific news history

Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.

Similar companies to Hotwire

10 companies that operate in the same segment as Hotwire (Online Travel), ranked by their profile score on The Company Check.

CompanyDescriptionFoundedLocationTotal fundingRevenueEmployees
Online bookings for flights, hotels, and travel packages are facilitated.
2000Gurugram, Haryana, IndiaUSD 39 MUSD 1.04 B5,120
Online platform providing multiple travel booking services
2007Gurugram, Haryana, IndiaUSD 96.62 MUSD 130.88 M465
Corporate travel and expense management are facilitated through SaaS platform.
2015Palo Alto, California, United StatesUSD 1.58 BUSD 3.52 M847
Spend management and accounts payable solutions are delivered to businesses.
2019New York, New York, United StatesUSD 3.21 B––
Business spends, payments, and rewards are streamlined by automated workflows.
2011Hyderabad, Telangana, IndiaUSD 13.75 MUSD 149.43 M431
Multiple travel services are booked via an app-based platform.
1999Miami, Florida, United StatesUSD 331.37 M–4,543
Multiple travel services are booked via an app-based platform.
2012Jakarta, Jakarta, IndonesiaUSD 1.02 B––
SaaS-driven credit card and spend management solutions platform for businesses
2017Draper, Utah, United StatesUSD 1.16 B–1
Bus tickets are booked online via portal and mobile app.
2006Bengaluru, Karnataka, IndiaUSD 10 M––
Outdoor tours and activities are booked via an app-based platform.
2009Berlin, Berlin, GermanyUSD 877.51 M––
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Frequently Asked Questions about Hotwire

Hotwire was founded in 2000.

Hotwire is headquartered in San Francisco, United States. It is registered at San Francisco, California, United States.

Hotwire is a funded company, having raised a total of $77M across 2 funding rounds to date. The company's 1st funding round was a Private Equity Round of $75M, raised on Jan 2000.

Hotwire was founded in 2000 in San Francisco, United States, within the travel sector. A platform is operated for booking airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, cruises, and vacation packages at reduced rates. An opaque pricing model is utilized to provide low fares. Discounts are negotiated with suppliers for unsold inventory, enabling access to various travel options across multiple categories.

Hotwire's top competitors include StudentUniverse, Jetsetter and Airfarewatchdog.

Hotwire offers Hotels Booking, Cars Booking, Flights Booking, and Vacations Booking.

Hotwire has 2 investors. Key investors include TPG, and IAC.

Hotwire operates through Hotwire Inc.

Yes. Hotwire was acquired by IAC in September 2003.

Yes. Hotwire publishes Hotwire: Hotel Deals & Travel, with over 1 million downloads.

The website of Hotwire receives about 1.5 million visits a month and ranks #29,378 among all websites worldwide.

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