UpTake

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Company Description

UpTake is a travel search and discovery site - the first step for travelers to decide where to go, where to stay or what to do. We help users make informed decisions about what best fits their travel preferences. We scoured more than 1,000 sites to collect 400,000 places to go, things to do and places to stay in the U.S. Then we analyzed and organized over 20 million travelers' opinions to enable search based on exact travel requirements and preferences. See about UpTake for more information about our company.

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UpTake logo

Screenshots
UpTake - Homepage
Homepage		 UpTake - Search Tool
Search Tool		 UpTake - Vacation Themes
Vacation Themes
UpTake - Family Friendly Hotels in Monterey, CA
Search for
'Family Friendly Hotels in Monterey'		 UpTake - Hotel Detail Page
Monterey Plaza Hotel Spa
Hotel Detail Page		 UpTake - Aggregated Ratings Across The Web
Aggregated Ratings
from Across the Web
UpTake - Aggregated Reviews Across The Web
Aggregated Reviews
from Across the Web		 UpTake - Shop Rates Across The Web
Shop Rates across The Web		 UpTake - Things to Do In Monterey, CA
Things to Do -
in Monterey
UpTake - Search for Campgrounds in Big Sur, CA
Search for
'Campgrounds in Big Sur '		 UpTake - Feelin' Broke Homepage
Feelin' Broke Homepage		 UpTake - Feelin' Broke San Diego
Feelin' Broke San Diego
Company Timeline

2008
November 12, 2008 UpTake Becomes Largest Travel Search Engine with the Most Sources, Products and Opinions
September 17, 2008 UpTake raises $10 million to expand product offering and accelerate growth.
July 28, 2008 Uptake.com announces new "Feelin' Broke" theme to help travelers find reasonably priced hotels and free activities around the country.
May 14, 2008 UpTake.com opens up to the public. Adds two more hotel themes: "girls getaway" and "pet-friendly." All themes are now based on analyzing over 20 million online opinions.
April 2008 Kango.com achieves page rank 6 in Google toolbar.
March 26, 2008 Company announces brand change to UpTake. But Kango.com will remain live through 2009.
March 2008 UpTake crawler successfully completes its crawl of 1000+ travel sites across the web. UpTake creates the largest database of U.S. hotels and activities with over 400,000 products.
January 2008 Kango.com achieves page rank 5 in Google toolbar.

2007
December 2007 Company holds holiday party at Bucca di Beppo and terrorizes Palo Alto merchants with a competitive company scavenger hunt.
December 18, 2007 Private Beta & Funding Announcement. Announces Series A round of funding of $4 million from Shasta Ventures. About 2000 people join the private beta. Site features three themes - just getaway, family friendly and romantic getaway.
October 2007 Kango.com achieves page rank 4 in Google toolbar.
October 19, 2007 TechCrunch threatens to break news on Kango.com, so we tell everything!
May 2007 Company completes its hires of three search PhDs: Huanjin Chen, Tong Luo, and Boris Galitsky.
Apr 2007 Company moves into real office space in Palo Alto. Buys IKEA furniture.
Mar 2007 Company hires Elliott Ng as VP Marketing and allows him to invest his salary in the Series A round.
January 2007 Company office experiences 60 day ant infestation. Home has no heat. Nicknamed "Ant-artica."

2006
December 2006 Company's 1st holiday party is at an unremarkable Indian restaurant. Four people attend.
October 2006 Company moves into co-founder Gene's San Mateo home.
September 2006 Company incorporates as ThreeAll, Inc. Stealth name is SearchSpark. All four members of the team work out of Yen's backyard studio.

QUOTE - ATTRIBUTABLE TO PATRICIA NAKACHE, GENERAL PARTNER, TRINITY VENTURES

  • "We looked at dozens of investment opportunities in the online travel industry for several years before deciding to invest in UpTake. UpTake has a distinct approach that addresses a big search and discovery gap in the travel market and is run by a proven CEO and team."

QUOTE - ATTRIBUTABLE TO JOHN BANZCAK, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, BedandBreakfast.com

  • "Bedandbreakfast.com has the most comprehensive database of B&Bs and UpTake has the most comprehensive database of travel information to help travelers make more informed decisions to improve their vacation experience. By joining UpTake’s Content Partner program, BedandBreakfast.com and UpTake are working together to ensure that travelers can find the right B&B given their travel preferences."

QUOTES - ATTRIBUTABLE TO YEN LEE, PRESIDENT OF UPTAKE

(click here to read more on Yen Lee's profile and management team)

  • "Unlike other travel sites, we are focused on delivering the most comprehensive coverage. We offer the broadest and deepest information about U.S. hotels and we'll be developing similar levels coverage for activities and destinations later this year."
  • "When you know where and when you want to travel, existing travel booking sites excel. But today's booking sites don't help you shop based on why you are traveling or who you are traveling with. UpTake is designed to give you better recommendations based on these fundamental questions of "who" and "why"."
  • "UpTake matches a traveler with the most useful reviews, photos, etc. for the most relevant hotels and activities through attribute and sentiment analysis of reviews and other text, analysis guided by our travel ontology to extract weighted meta-tags. More simply, we break apart and analyze reviews and articles so we can recommend the best products for you."

QUOTE - ATTRIBUTABLE TO ANDY THOMAS, GM OF CATAMARAN RESORTS

  • "UpTake helps people make more informed decisions about where to stay. For independent hotels like ours, UpTake provides another way to convert our good word-of-mouth online into more hotel stays."
Company Facts
  • UpTake (formerly known as Kango) is a travel search application that collects and organizes content from thousands of web sites like Expedia, Fodors, goCityKids, Virtual Tourist and TripAdvisor.
  • By aggregating traveler opinions and the most comprehensive selection of products, UpTake will save travelers the time of going from site to site to find the right review for the right product.
  • UpTake enables consumers to search based on "who" and "why" they are traveling. For example, the site offers four themes, "girls' getaway", "pet-friendly" , "family-friendly" and "romantic", to personalize the search and discovery process.
  • UpTake provides tailored recommendations based on analysis of more than 20 million travel opinions for attributes like "pool", "babysitting", "oversized rooms", and for sentiments such as "like", "love", "strongly recommend" to deliver tailored results for users looking for different types of vacation; for example, Monterey family hotels versus for Monterey romantic hotels.
  • UpTake tries to understand travelers' intentions - if a traveler is looking for a hotel that is "good for kids", UpTake interprets it to have the same intent as phrases such as "child friendly" or "family vacation."
  • UpTake's founder and President, Yen Lee, has built online travel business for 12 years. Most recently he served as General Manager of Yahoo! Travel, where he grew the category 40% YOY to over $300M in annual revenue. UpTake's VP of Marketing, Elliott Ng, most recently ran marketing for Intuit QuickBooks and previously co-founded Netcentives and Loyalty Matrix. UpTake's product team is led by Gene McKenna, former head of product at Acxiom Digital, and includes former senior architects and engineers from eBay, SimplyHired, and LogLogix.
  • UpTake's Content Partner Program, enables publishers to provide the most up-to-date content to the UpTake visitor. UpTake partners include: BedandBreakfast.com, Restauranti.ca, OpenTable, La Quinta Inn & Suites, Away.com, and FriendCommunications, the leader in online reservations for RV parks and campgrounds.
FAQs about UpTake
Biographies & Photos
Yen Lee
Yen Lee
President and Co-Founder		   Gene McKenna
Gene McKenna
VP of Product and Co-Founder
Elliott Ng
Elliott Ng
VP of Marketing and Co-Founder		   Huanjin Chen
Huanjin Chen
Boris Galitsky
Boris Galitsky		   Rob Roberts
Rob Roberts
Clive Beavis
Clive Beavis		      
Travel Information Blogroll
Tags

UpTake, travel, travel planning, technology, vertical search, Kango, Yen Lee, Elliott Ng, Gene McKenna, Huanjin Chen, Boris Galitsky, user generated content, travel industry

Press Contact

Veronica Skelton
Concept Communications
veronica@conceptpr.net
(415) 342-3435

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