Gogobot, a social-powered travel service, has raised $ 15 million led by Redpoint Ventures with Battery Ventures and the CrunchFund participating. Gogobot said it will use the money to build up its marketing, partnerships, and outreach as it looks to expand its global footprint.
Gogobot is an interesting take on travel because it helps people plan their trips by tapping the recommendations and suggestions of their friends. People have historically done this themselves but Gogobot has created a complete resource that helps people leverage their social networks to plan trips.
Users can check out reviews from friends and where they’ve traveled to and they can also share their own photos and reviews about where they’ve gone to, all of which gets packaged into albums and collections that users can view. And they can follow other Gogobot users and also send out travel queries to their friends on Facebook and Twitter. Gogobot earlier this year integrated check-in data from Foursquare and Facebook to help fill out a user’s travel journal. And the service went mobile last month with an iPhone app with an Android app set to come next year.
“Travel is all about discovering new experiences and sharing them with your friends and family,” said Travis Katz, Gogobot co-founder and CEO. ”With this new funding, Gogobot aims to continue to grow and pave the way for a new era of travel – harnessing social media to provide users with trusted, insightful, and enriching reviews at the tip of your finger.”
Gogobot was launched in Nov. 2010 by Katz, MySpace’s former GM International and Ori Zaltzman, the former Chief Architect of Yahoo Boss. The company initially raised $ 4 million from Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors, Battery Ventures, Square COO Keith Rabois and Oren Ze’ev.
As I wrote earlier this year, I like what Gogobot is up to, helping turn recommendations, visits and photos into a lasting resource that not just friends but anyone on Gogobot can take advantage of. It’s got a good sense of how to leverage social connections to create a very robust travel resource that feels more personal for people, who may trust the taste of their friends more than a guidebook.
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