Travel Ad Network Acquires TravelMuse

NEW YORK, NY–(Marketwire – November 30, 2010) – Travel Ad Network (TAN), the leading and largest vertical media company in travel, announced today that it has purchased the assets of TravelMuse, a comprehensive travel planning website that reaches travelers early in the consumer travel lifecycle. This is a significant addition to Travel Ad Network’s owned and operated properties and continues the transformation of TAN from a vertical ad network into an integrated digital media company. Financial details of the acquisition will not be disclosed.

Following the October 19th close of a $15 million Series C round of financing, Brian Silver, CEO of Travel Ad Network, indicated that the proceeds of the round would go towards acquiring travel sites, content, and tools, as well as towards increasing TAN’s technology infrastructure.

“Travel Ad Network’s goal remains to build, organize and serve the largest online travel audience in the world,” says Mr. Silver. “We are excited to add TravelMuse to our portfolio. We will also leverage TravelMuse tools across our exclusive sites to enhance the user experience.”

“I am delighted that TravelMuse has become part of Travel Ad Network. It is exciting to contribute to TAN’s success in building the leading travel digital media company,” says TravelMuse CEO Russ Lemelin. 

Founded by Kevin Fliess and launched in 2008, TravelMuse (www.travelmuse.com) is an online destination for finding inspiration and planning trips with friends and family. Visitors can save any page from the Web using the TravelMuse Bookmarker; easily create Trips; organize, schedule and share travel information with the TravelMuse Planner; get travel recommendations; and use the industry’s first Inspiration Finder to discover destinations. It attracts about 100,000 unique visitors each month. The company is based in Palo Alto, CA and raised more than $6 million in funding primarily from Azure Capital Partners and California Technology Ventures.

Travel Ad Network (www.traveladnetwork.com) (TAN) is the leading vertical media company in travel reaching more than 36 million unique users worldwide through top tier website publishers, including BBC’s Lonely Planet, Rand McNally, SpaFinder, Let’s Go, Gannett’s Hawaii.com, Priceline’s Hotelsbycity network, HomeAway UK and almost 300 other travel websites. Travel Ad Network uses both audience and contextual relevancy on a single platform to give marketers unrivaled access to their exclusive audience, which is found in all stages of the travel lifecycle. Founded in 2003, Travel Ad Network is headquartered in New York City with branch offices in the West, Midwest and Southeast, as well as in the UK.