创新企业之星

旅游搜索引擎Kayak

公司收入：1，710万美元

公司总部：康乃狄格州诺瓦克市

所属行业：旅游网站

成立时间：2004年

员工人数：130人

    在线旅游搜索是一个竞争非常激烈的商业领域。Kayak.com对阵艾派迪公司（Expedia）和旅游城（Travelocity），打造出了一个热门品牌，通过提供精准的搜索结果，不断发展壮大。Kayak首席技术官和联合创始人保罗•英吉利（右）说：“很多公司从事和我们相同的业务。用户选择Kayak的原因很微妙——包括我们如何设计和组织页面，以及我们把哪些酒店排在搜索结果的首位。”考虑到在线旅游在电子商务业务中所占比例高达40%，它的潜在收益将是巨大的。2010年，Kayak的收入比2009年增长了51%。目前，它在苹果应用程序商店（Apple’s App Store）推出的免费旅游应用程序已成用户首选。利空消息：近期，谷歌公司（Google）收购了旅游软件公司IDA，正式进军在线旅游搜索行业。美国市场研究公司Opus Research的分析师格雷格•斯特林是行业专家，他说：“如果谷歌创办旅游网站，这必将给Kayak带来不良影响。”Kayak确实需要全力以赴才能保住对这个互联网巨头的领先优势，但是英吉利看起来似乎不以为意，他说：“创新总有生存空间。”

    ——理查德•麦吉尔•墨菲

Kayak

Revenue: $ 171 million

Headquarters: Norwalk, Conn.

Industry: Travel website

Founded: 2004

Employees: 130

    Online travel search is a viciously competitive business. Kayak.com, which goes up against Expedia and Travelocity, has thrived by creating a hip brand and offering accurate search results. "Lots of companies do what we do," says Kayak CTO and co-founder Paul English (right). "Users gravitate to Kayak for subtle reasons -- how we paint and organize the page, which hotels we show you first." The potential rewards are huge, considering that online travel represents 40% of all e-commerce. Kayak's sales last year grew by 51% over 2009, and it now provides the No. 1 free travel app in Apple's App Store. The bad news: Google recently entered the space by acquiring travel software company ITA. "If Google builds a great travel site, it will definitely impact Kayak," says Opus Research analyst Greg Sterling, an expert on the search industry. Kayak will indeed need to paddle hard to keep ahead of the Internet giant, but English seems unperturbed: "There's always room for innovation."

    --R.M.M.