Jay Walker, the founder of Priceline.com, raised $50 million for his new travel discount site, Upside.com, putting the company at a $200 million valuation, Bloomberg News reports. Investors include Red Ventures and investment firm Leucadia National Corp.
D.C.-based Upside.com, which launched to the public Monday, is aimed at finding discounts for the business traveler. In the same report, Walker said Upside has agreements with 1,200 hotels. The site sells flight and hotel bundles, never disclosing how much the flight or hotel is separately. This way, Upside says, travelers receive a special discount. Upside also tries to incentivize travelers to adjust their schedule, such as suggesting they stay at a hotel a bit further away or flying a bit earlier, by offering gift cards the equivalent of what their savings.
Walker left Priceline in 1999 right after it went public. The bundle model is not new to the industry, and Upside's approach makes sense considering Priceline's name-your-own-price model where users indicate how much they're willing to spend on a trip and Priceline works to find a hotel and flight bundle that matches their budget.
DC Inno has reached out for comment and will update the post as new information becomes available.
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