TripAdvisor acquires the French start-up LaFourchette

TripAdvisor, the reference site for consumer reviews in the tourism industry, today announced the acquisition of the French start-up lafourchette. The amount of the transaction was not disclosed but it would be in excess of $ 50 million, valuing it established two years ago during the last fundraising underwritten by Serena Capital and Partech Ventures (Otium Capital keeping control). The acquisition is expected to be completed within a month. The operation is not really a surprise. The two companies had announced a partnership earlier this year.

TripAdvisor CEO Stephen Kaufer, said in a press release: "By bringing our international presence, we hope to further strengthen the brand lafourchette and work together to improve the supply of restaurants found on TripAdvisor for our community." Employees of the start-up will continue to work in their European facilities.

lafourchette was founded in 2007 by three people: Bertrand Jelensperger Patrick Dalsace Fayolle and Denis. The site is located in France, Switzerland, Spain and soon also in Brussels, whose launch is imminent.

With this service for booking restaurants in real time, the user can find a restaurant based on their search criteria (type of food, price, place ...). It can also receive discounts up to 50%. The website now lists more than 7,000 partner restaurants. lafourchette earns a commission of around 2 dollars per booking honored and 0.50 if the restaurant uses the software start-up. Since its inception, the site has already registered more than 17 million bookings (more than 700,000 bookings / month in early 2014). According Otium Capital would have made ​​since its inception more than 250 million dollars in turnover affiliated restaurants. Furthermore lafourchette, the service is known as eltenedor in Spain and thefork in the United Kingdom.