Poised for IPO, Kayak Reports Sales Boost and Global Growth

Kayak kicked off 2011 with major sales growth in the run-up to its planned initial public offering, according to an update to its IPO filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission made Friday.

The travel search company made $ 52.6 million in the first three months of 2011, representing a 43.4 percent increase over the same period in 2010, the company reported in the S-1 amendment.

The filing also reflected the Norwalk, Conn.-based company’s stronger focus on the international market. Kayak reported spending $ 9.5 million on its April 1 acquisition of JaBo Software, described in the filing as a “leading travel metasearch website in Austria.” It looks like the JaBo buy was just one part of a larger global growth strategy: International operations accounted for 14 percent of Kayak’s revenue in the first quarter of 2011, up from eight percent in the first quarter of 2010, the company reported. Kayak, which opened its European headquarters in Zurich last month, now expects its international revenues to increase at a faster rate than its sales in the U.S., according to the filing.

Kayak’s report of impressive growth comes at a good time for the IPO-bound company, as the Internet industry is on a roll with solid stock market debuts. Last week, professional social networking site LinkedIn listed its shares on the New York Stock Exchange to impressive demand, more than doubling its share price on the first day of trading from $ 45 to a close of $ 94.25. And Russian search engine Yandex raised $ 1.3 billion in an IPO on the Nasdaq exchange earlier this week, representing the biggest public offering for a dotcom since Google’s listing in 2004. While Memorial Day usually represents the start of a pretty sleepy time for the stock market, the summer of 2011 could shape up to be a busy one.

Image of Kayak CEO Steve Hafner courtesy of the company

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