Travolution@PhoCusWright Brussels - Dark side of meta search

A recent Economist article, "The Dark Side of Debt", explored the long-term dangers attached to the current wave of private lending, which is helping to prop up a number of companies which, under conventional financial practices, may not float.

It is thanks to this glut of private funding that start-up meta search companies are springing up around the globe (Fare.net boss Pascal Bordat raised €8 million to fund his meta search company).

This glut of capital is apparently not working its way into the pockets of entrepreneurs aiming to launch a new OTA to compete with the likes of Expedia and Opodo.

How long investors’ faith in the so-called next generation of web search companies will last is anyone’s guess, but let’s not forget the MO of most PEs is to sell, sell, sell, so the real question might me which one of the new meta search entrants will be plucked by the established online players?

Tricia Holly Davis, freelance journalist