| Acquired by | Microsoft |
| Price | $115M |
| Date | 4/08 |
| Website | farecast.com |
| Blog | farecastblog.com |
| Category | Search |
| Employees | 26 |
| Founded | 1/03 |
| Description | Airfare Prediction Service |
| Total | $20.6M |
| Series A, 10/04 Madrona Venture Group WRF Capital | $1.5M |
| Series B, 7/05 Greylock Partners Madrona Venture Group WRF Capital | $7M |
| Series C, 1/07 Greylock Partners Madrona Venture Group PAR Capital Management Pinnacle Ventures Sutter Hill Ventures WRF Capital | $12.1M |
Farecast offers a unique service by providing its users with intelligent airfare predictions. Founded in 2003, Farecast has since gained very healthy funding from several venture funds totaling $20.6 million. Unlike other travel companies, Farecast predicts when a user should buy a ticket based upon 175 billion points of previous airfare data. Its engine can currently predict whether airfare goes up or down up to a week into the future with a claimed success rate of 70-75%. While Farecast has a lot of competition, they claim it is the only company which can predict future prices.
The site has recently expanded to providing the best deals on hotel room as well. Results from travel search sites like ReserveTravel, Orbitz, and CheapTicket, are shown on a map with prices and other hotel information. Farecase gives deal finders an idea if a specific hotel is overpriced or a good deal by marking overpriced hotels blue and attractively-priced hotels red.
| Website | farecast.com |
| Stage | Live |
| Launch Date | July 11, 2007 |
| Tags | travel |
Searching for flights on Farecast generates the lowest current prices followed by a recommendation to buy now or wait until prices drop. If it is recommended to wait, users are shown a prediction of the lowest future price for their flight as well as Farecast’s confidence level(in percentage). After suggesting the best time to buy flight tickets, Farecast allows users to buy directly from their chosen airline. If users chose to, they may select a security option which guarantees they will not pass up on the best possible price. When Farecast predicts a lower airfare in the future, Fare Guard, the security option, allows a user to lock themselves into the price of a current ticket. In cases when predictions are incorrect, users will still have access to tickets at the previous low price plus a $10 fee.
| Website | farecast.com/hotels |
| Stage | Beta |
| Tags | travel |
The site helps deal finders see what hotels are overpriced and what hotels are good deals. For instance, sometimes name brand chains up their room prices in certains areas because travelers don’t research average room prices for local hotels. Farecast analyzes historical rates for over 5,000 hotels so they have a good idea of average hotel room prices in specific areas.
