Investment Reflects Groople’s Market Leadership Position

DENVER – Groople, the leader in online group travel and industry pioneer, announced that it has secured $6 million in its latest round of financing. ArrowPath Venture Partners led the financing along with FA Technology Ventures (FATV).  Existing investors Vista Ventures, Fatty Tuna and Flywheel Ventures also participated in the round.

Groople provides online booking capabilities for group travelers and matches the needs of specific groups with appropriate products, prices and support. While facilitating bookings and generating new revenue, Groople allows travel suppliers to retain control of their inventory and rates. Groople provides the tools for non-managed group leaders to request a block of hotel rooms while permitting the individual group members to make changes to reservations and pay individually.

“There has been such strong demand for our product from both consumers and suppliers, as evidenced by our double-digit revenue growth, as well as triple-digit growth in profits,” said Groople Chief Executive Officer Mike Stacy. “We are pleased to have partners of the caliber of ArrowPath, Vista and FA Technology Ventures. These firms have tremendous experience in building young technology companies into market leaders. We were very selective in deciding which venture firms to work with and we are delighted by our choice.”

“Self-organized, small group travel is a growing, multibillion dollar segment of the travel industry. Group travelers have come to expect the same convenience and control of individual online travel coupled with a service that understands the unique needs of group travel,” said Jerry Gramaglia, a Partner with ArrowPath Venture Partners. “Groople, led by top executives from both the travel and technology industries, is filling that consumer need.”

This latest investment will be used to further accelerate the company’s growth plans including expansion of their website (www.groople.com) and improving the customer experience. The company will also use a portion of the proceeds to enhance agent and supplier technologies as well as increase its growing network of hotel properties, affiliates, partners and direct sales capabilities.

In addition to providing investment in the company, Jerry Gramaglia of ArrowPath Ventures and Giri Sekhar of FATV have been appointed to the Groople Board of Directors.

Explaining his reasons for backing Groople, FATV’s Giri Sekhar commented “Groople fills one of the last big holes in the online travel market.  There are numerous online booking solutions for individual travel, but groups still have to do things the old fashioned way – with telephones, faxes, voicemail, agents and snail mail.  Groople brings group travel into the Internet age.”

About Groople

Groople (www.groople.com) is the leader in online group travel, offering one-stop group booking on hotel, cruise, air, bus, and rail, and is backed by partnerships with the largest travel suppliers worldwide. Groople is group travel made easy, with more than 60,000 hotel choices worldwide and six top cruise lines brought together in an online group booking website. Groople offers discounted rates, individual payment options and creates a single point of contact for the group travel consumer. Groople’s customer sales center provides personal attention and offers group travel experts to advise on corporate travel and leisure group travel for weddings, family reunions, religious groups, sports teams, and more. Created by twenty travel industry veterans, Groople pioneered the online group travel space and continues to lead the group travel industry in technology, inventory and convenience.

About ArrowPath Ventures

ArrowPath is an early-stage venture capital firm with over $325 million under management. The firm focuses on early-stage companies developing highly differentiated enterprise and infrastructure technologies as well as consumer services that offer compelling value and have the prospect of achieving market leadership.  ArrowPath's goal is to help entrepreneurs build companies of enduring value while generating superior returns for investors. For more information, go to www.arrowpathvc.com.

About FA Technology Ventures

FA Technology Ventures (FATV), based in Boston, MA and Albany, NY, is a leading early stage investor, providing venture capital, management and guidance for companies in the emerging growth sectors of Information Technology and Energy Technology. FA Technology Ventures is committed to helping build tomorrow’s great technology companies by backing experienced, passionate entrepreneurs who have innovative ideas and a new vision for the future. Recent notable FATV investments include iRobot (Nasdaq: IRBT), Meta Group (Nasdaq: METG, acquired by Gartner Group) and Softricity (acquired by Microsoft).  To learn more about FA Technology Ventures, visit www.FAtechventures.com.