Travel startup cFares raises $4.5 million

By Vivek | July 23rd, 2007 at 11:20 am ET         

cFares, the travel startup that StartupSquad.com was one of the first blogs of write about last year, today announced the completion of its Series A round of funding. The investment round was led  by Claremont Creek Ventures, with previous investor Garage Technology Ventures also participating in the round. Total amount of funding raised by the startup now comes to $4.5 million.

As part of the management changes at cFares, Naren Nath has joined as President and Michael W. Gunn, as a member of its advisory board. Naren Nath most recently served as chairman of GeoPassage, a specialty and customized tour provider to more than 80 countries worldwide.  Before that, Naren Nath was Senior Vice President at Trilogy Software, and also worked on product management and marketing for Microsoft?s Interactive Television and Media Provider Relations groups. Michael Gunn, who is credited with introducing the concept of ?frequent flyers,? was previously Executive Vice President, Marketing and Planning, at American Airline.

Funding news aside, cFares also unveiled an enhanced user interface today that presents travelers with a visual dashboard that charts the tradeoffs a traveler can make between departure time and prices among similar flights. 

Although not similar, another travel startup Farecast offers chart based guidance on historical pricing of ticket.

Besides the new features, one of the more significant features that cFares had started with was the ability to offer tickets at significantly lower prices to it’s Platinum members. Platinum membership comes for $50 annual fee. You can compare this business-model to one at Sam Club or Costco or BJs that does drive in lot of customers.

Links:
cFares