T-Venture TOP NEWS

Press Release
Bonn, July 15, 2008

T-Online Venture Fund invests two million Euro in swoodoo

Bonn, July 15, 2008

T-Online Venture Fund today announced an investment of two million Euro in swoodoo GmbH. Swoodoo will use the capital raised to advance its product development, marketing and internationalisation. With the T-Online Venture Fund, swoodoo closed its second round financing, following an initial investment in product development of 500,000 Euro by Matthias Zahn, a successful serial entrepreneur and angel investor. The Munich-based company plans to raise further capital in early 2009 to accelerate its expansion.

Founded in 2006 in Munich, swoodoo GmbH is an internet company, which aims to set new standards in the online flight search and bookings sector. swoodoo has devised a unique technology, which offers completely new search options for its users. For the first time, swoodoo allows users to do fuzzy searches, e.g., search for the cheapest flight from Bavaria to the Balearic Islands on a Friday in August. One year after its product launch in Germany in 2007, swoodoo is one of the fastest-growing start-up businesses in the online travel sector. In 2007 and 2008, swoodoo was voted winner of flight search engine comparison tests in leading German publications such as the business magazine “Focus Money” and the leading Sunday newspaper “Bild am Sonntag”. “Sonntag Aktuell”, a Sunday newspaper, christened swoodoo the “Google of the skies”.

T-Online Venture Fund’s involvement with swoodoo also signals the start of further cooperations with several subsidiaries of Deutsche Telekom. “We plan to integrate the swoodoo flight search into our travel marketplace, TravelScout24. Swoodoo’s excellent business concept and consistent practice have won us over”, states Christoph Hölzlwimmer, Managing Director of Scout24 GmbH/TravelScout24.

Dr. Christian Saller, CEO of swoodoo GmbH: “We are delighted to have found a substantial and committed partner for worldwide development in the T-Online Venture Fund. The investment allows us to increase our growth in Germany and to press ahead with our international expansion.”

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