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
- SectorsTravel & Hospitality
- Website category Travel and Tourism
- Website hotwire.com
- Social LinkedIn X Facebook
- Acquired by IAC (Sep 2003)
- Legal Name Hotwire Inc
Products & Services of Hotwire
Hotwire offers a comprehensive portfolio of products and services, including Hotels Booking, Cars Booking, Flights Booking, and Vacations Booking.
Platform for reserving cheap hotel stays online
Service for renting vehicles at discounted rates
Tool for securing affordable flight tickets
System for arranging vacation packages quickly
Apps and channels of Hotwire
Hotwire publishes 1 mobile app with over 1M+ downloads.
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.
| Date | Amount | Transaction Name | Valuation | Lead Investors | Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 2003 | $2M | Series A | β | β | β |
| Jan 2000 | $75M | Private Equity Round | β | β |
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.
| Investor | Description | Founded Year | Domain | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Fund of funds focused on pre-seed and seed-stage companies | 1992 | tpg.com | Fort Worth, United States | |
Acquisitions and creations of media and internet brands are managed. | 1986 | iac.com | New York, United States |
Investor details for Hotwire
The complete investor list, round-by-round participation and investor portfolios require an active premium plan.
- Complete investor list
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People of Hotwire
1 people are tracked at Hotwire (1 in leadership).
| Name | Role | Group |
|---|---|---|
Neha Parikh | President | Leadership |
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.
- Founded Hotwire is founded.
- Funding First funding round of $75.0M.
- Funding Latest funding round, Series A, of $2.0M.
- 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 Name | Domain | Founded | HQ Location | Total funding | Employees | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| studentuniverse.com | 2000 | Waltham, United States | – | – | Travel deals for students are provided via an online platform. | |
| jetsetter.com | 2009 | New York, United States | – | 1,068 | Provider of curated travel planning resources | |
| secrettravel.co | 2017 | Phoenix, United States | – | – | App platform providing secret deals for flights, hotels, and travel savings. | |
| lastminutetravel.com | 1996 | New York, United States | – | – | Provides online booking for last-minute hotels and flights in popular spots. | |
| travel-ticker.com | 2015 | San Francisco, United States | – | – | Online travel agency that offers deals and discounts on booking | |
| airfarewatchdog.com | 2005 | New York, United States | – | – | Discounted airfares and hotels are booked via an online portal. | |
| farebuzz.com | 1994 | New York, United States | – | – | Online platform for booking flights, hotels, vacations, and car rentals services. | |
| beacon.travel | 2021 | Oceanside, United States | – | – | Provides discounted travel deals and memberships for hotels, cruises, and activities. | |
| easyclicktravel.com | 2002 | Maitland, United States | – | – | Functions as an online travel agent specializing in deals. |
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
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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 visits1.5M
- Unique visitors747.8K
per month
- Global rank#29,378
among all websites
- Category rank#841
Travel and Tourism · Travel and Tourism
- Bounce rate27%
- Pages per visit4.7
- Average visit3 min 43 sec
- DevicesDesktop 33% Β· Mobile 67%
Websites whose visitors overlap most with Hotwire. Affinity shows how closely the audiences match.
| Website | Domain | Audience affinity | Monthly visits | Global rank | Profile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| travelocity.com | 100% | 5.1M | #10,410 | View details | |
| priceline.com | 100% | 30.5M | #1,488 | View details | |
| kayak.com | 100% | 35.8M | #1,115 | View details | |
| orbitz.com | 98% | 3M | #14,741 | View details | |
| cheaptickets.com | 81% | 570.7K | #65,728 | View details | |
| β’β’β’β’β’β’β’β’β’β’ | β’β’β’β’β’β’.com | β’β’% | β’.β’M | #β’β’β’β’β’ | β |
| β’β’β’β’β’β’β’β’β’β’ | β’β’β’β’β’β’.com | β’β’% | β’.β’M | #β’β’β’β’β’ | β |
| β’β’β’β’β’β’β’β’β’β’ | β’β’β’β’β’β’.com | β’β’% | β’.β’M | #β’β’β’β’β’ | β |
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
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.
| Company | Description | Founded | Location | Total funding | Revenue | Employees |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Online bookings for flights, hotels, and travel packages are facilitated. | 2000 | Gurugram, Haryana, India | USD 39 M | USD 1.04 B | 5,120 | |
Online platform providing multiple travel booking services | 2007 | Gurugram, Haryana, India | USD 96.62 M | USD 130.88 M | 465 | |
Corporate travel and expense management are facilitated through SaaS platform. | 2015 | Palo Alto, California, United States | USD 1.58 B | USD 3.52 M | 847 | |
Spend management and accounts payable solutions are delivered to businesses. | 2019 | New York, New York, United States | USD 3.21 B | – | – | |
Business spends, payments, and rewards are streamlined by automated workflows. | 2011 | Hyderabad, Telangana, India | USD 13.75 M | USD 149.43 M | 431 | |
Multiple travel services are booked via an app-based platform. | 1999 | Miami, Florida, United States | USD 331.37 M | – | 4,543 | |
Multiple travel services are booked via an app-based platform. | 2012 | Jakarta, Jakarta, Indonesia | USD 1.02 B | – | – | |
SaaS-driven credit card and spend management solutions platform for businesses | 2017 | Draper, Utah, United States | USD 1.16 B | – | 1 | |
Bus tickets are booked online via portal and mobile app. | 2006 | Bengaluru, Karnataka, India | USD 10 M | – | – | |
Outdoor tours and activities are booked via an app-based platform. | 2009 | Berlin, Berlin, Germany | USD 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 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.

