Another acquisition for TripAdvisor, this time buying flight and airport information application provider GateGuru for an undisclosed fee.
GateGuru was launched in 2009 [TLabs here] and secured its first round of investment in 2011 ($800,000) from a string of angel investors.
The application is available on both Android and Apple devices and has built a steady following of users in recent years.
The service allows users to view maps and other airport-related information (including weather forecasts, estimated waiting times and flight status updates) as well as user generated content about services in a particular location.
More recently, however, GateGuru admitted that an update to the system in November last year did not work out as planned and a major rethink and relaunch would be necessary following some stinging user feedback.
The new version was eventually released in April 2013.
TripAdvisor already has the SeatGuru brand on its portfolio, so the addition of GateGuru makes a lot of sense strategically as it looks to bolster the existing review service with other products.
The GateGuru team will report to Bryan Saltzburg, general manager for new initiatives and TripAdvisor's exec overseeing its flight products (such as its metasearch channel).
Steve Kaufer, co-founder and CEO of TripAdvisor, says:
"Flying is often an essential part of a trip and we have continually developed our suite of flights products, from the pricing and availability search on TripAdvisor, to our award-winning SeatGuru.com, with seat maps and more.
"GateGuru nicely complements our existing flights products and we look forward to working with the GateGuru team as they continue to manage the GateGuru app and add great functionality to the TripAdvisor mobile experience."
Investors in the 2011 round included Brad Harrison (BHVentures), Allen Morgan, Chamath Palihapitiya (Embarcadero Ventures), Tom Glocer, (CEO, Thomson Reuters) and Thomas Lehrman, as well as the Angellist fund.
TripAdvisor's acquisition spree appears to show no bounds in recent months, buying vacation rental service Niumba and CruiseWise in May, Jetsetter in April, Tiny Post in March and Wanderfly in October last year.