創新企業之星

旅游搜索引擎Kayak

公司收入：1，710萬美元

公司總部：康乃狄格州諾瓦克市

所屬行業：旅游網站

成立時間：2004年

員工人數：130人

????在線旅游搜索是一個競爭非常激烈的商業領域。Kayak.com對陣艾派迪公司（Expedia）和旅游城（Travelocity），打造出了一個熱門品牌，通過提供精準的搜索結果，不斷發展壯大。Kayak首席技術官和聯合創始人保羅?英吉利（右）說：“很多公司從事和我們相同的業務。用戶選擇Kayak的原因很微妙——包括我們如何設計和組織頁面，以及我們把哪些酒店排在搜索結果的首位。”考慮到在線旅游在電子商務業務中所占比例高達40%，它的潛在收益將是巨大的。2010年，Kayak的收入比2009年增長了51%。目前，它在蘋果應用程序商店（Apple’s App Store）推出的免費旅游應用程序已成用戶首選。利空消息：近期，谷歌公司（Google）收購了旅游軟件公司IDA，正式進軍在線旅游搜索行業。美國市場研究公司Opus Research的分析師格雷格?斯特林是行業專家，他說：“如果谷歌創辦旅游網站，這必將給Kayak帶來不良影響。”Kayak確實需要全力以赴才能保住對這個互聯網巨頭的領先優勢，但是英吉利看起來似乎不以為意，他說：“創新總有生存空間。”

????——理查德?麥吉爾?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.