metasearch engine
A metasearch engine (or search aggregator) is an online information retrieval tool that uses the data of a web search engine to produce its own results. Metasearch engines take input from a user and immediately query search engines for results. ...
and
travel agency
A travel agency is a private retailer or public service that provides travel and tourism-related services to the general public on behalf of accommodation or travel suppliers to offer different kinds of travelling packages for each destinat ...
based in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
, Scotland. The site is available in over 30 languages and is used by 100 million people per month. The company lets people research and book travel options for their trips, including flights, hotels and car hire.
History
The company was formed in 2003 by three
information technology
Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology system ...
professionals, Gareth Williams, Barry Smith, and Bonamy Grimes, after Gareth was frustrated by the difficulties of finding cheap flights to ski resorts. Skyscanner was first developed and released in 2002. In 2003, the first employee was hired to assist with site development. The Edinburgh office was opened in 2004.
In 2008, Skyscanner received first round funding of £2.5 million from venture capital firm Scottish Equity Partners (SEP).
In 2009, the year after SEP invested in the business, Skyscanner reported its first profit.
In 2011, Skyscanner acquired Zoombu. Skyscanner opened an office in Singapore in September 2011, which is headquarters for its Asia-Pacific operations. In 2012, a Beijing office was added, as Skyscanner began a partnership with
Baidu
Baidu, Inc. ( ; , meaning "hundred times") is a Chinese multinational technology company specializing in Internet-related services and products and artificial intelligence (AI), headquartered in Beijing's Haidian District. It is one of th ...
, China's largest search engine.
By 2013, the company employed over 180 people. In February 2013, Skyscanner announced plans to open a United States base in
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...
. In October 2013,
Sequoia Capital
Sequoia Capital is an American venture capital firm. The firm is headquartered in Menlo Park, California, and specializes in seed stage, early stage, and growth stage investments in private companies across technology sectors. , Sequoia's total a ...
purchased an interest in Skyscanner that valued the company at $800 million. In June 2014, Skyscanner acquired Youbibi, a travel search engine company based in
Shenzhen
Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major Sub-provincial division, sub-provincial city and one of the Special economic zones of China, special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pea ...
, China.
In October 2014, Skyscanner acquired the Budapest-based mobile app developer Distinction.
By February 2015, the company employed 600 people, double the employment of 18 months earlier.
In January 2016, the company raised $192 million based on a $1.6 billion valuation for the company.
In November 2016, a Chinese company Trip.com Group (formerly Ctrip) bought Skyscanner for $1.75 billion. Following the sale to Ctrip, Skyscanner’s largest shareholder, SEP, completed its exit from the business.
In 2017, Ctrip bought the Trip.com domain and launched Trip.com. The original platform became a subsidiary of Skyscanner.
In 2020, the company announced that they would be laying off 300 employees after COVID-19 rocked the travel industry. This represented 20 per cent of their staff with two offices in Budapest, Hungary and Sofia, Bulgaria, likely to shut down.
In 2022,
Huawei
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ( ; ) is a Chinese multinational technology corporation headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. It designs, develops, produces and sells telecommunications equipment, consumer electronics and various smart ...