Facebook, Onetwotrip, Vayant, Gogobot, Priceline, Future Travel Experience and Boingo all get mentioned in our roundup of the short news items driving opinion on 6 November.
CONFERENCES AND EXPOS
Happening today at London's former Battersea Power Station, the NOAH Conference 2012 brings together top management from startups and investors in digital platforms to talk industry trends.
Here are some fun facts Tnooz has learned so far:
- Facebook has added two people to its mergers and acquisitions team, bringing the total to three. The team is looking for talent acquisitions rather than Instagram-style product acquisitions, says biz partnership head Christian Hernandez Gallardo.
- Priceline is sitting on $4.6 billion in cash. Lots of speculation about what company it might buy next.
- “It’s a common misconception that people use their smartphones most while travelling. They actually use them most when watching TV.” [Google Research]
- There are at least 20 mobile social networks claiming more than 10 million users each. [Original source: Benedict Evans]
- Social travel startup Gogobot says it has "grown 800% in the past 10 months" to "exceed 2 million users."
- Startup MyTaxi, which Tnooz has written about before, announces that it will expand to Madrid next.
Future Travel Experience Europe, running in Amsterdam RAI, November 26-28, has released its full conference programme. A star speaker will be Pirjo Lähteelä, Head of Service and Systems Development, Finavia Corporation, and Rapporteur of ACI EUROPE's Task Force on Passenger Experience.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström’s VC firm, Atomico, is investing $16 million in Russian travel website Onetwotrip, a flight booking site. Atomico recently invested in taxi-booking app Hailo.
Onetwotrip had previously raised $9 million from Phenomenon Ventures. The news follows the $10 million funding round Russian rival OTA Oktogo.ru recently raised.
VentureBeat recently had a great interview with Andrew Hyde, co-founder of Startup Weekend about his new book on 2 years of global backpacking.
SEARCH/DISTRIBUTION
Bulgarian B2B airfare shopping specialist Vayant Travel Travel Technologies has announced the commercial launch of Live Fare Emails. The tool can increase conversions for email marketing campaigns, says a release.
AIRPORT TECHStarting next month, Boingo Wireless will run the wi-fi service in Oslo Airport Bergen Airport, and Flesland (BGO) and Stavanger Airport, Sola (SVG). That brings Boingo's coverage to more than 20 European airports.
Central Japan International Airport (Centrair) has recently awarded a contract to ARINC for the maintenance of passenger and check-in systems at the airport, the main one serving Nagoya and the Chubu region of Japan.
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