It’s amazing to think that we’ve traveled all the way to the end of 2010. The time has really flown by!

Before I get into the details of this incredible year, I want to take a moment to thank all the travelers who use TripIt. We couldn’t have accomplished our goals without your feedback, especially your constructive criticism. You have made an invaluable contribution to our growth, and, as always, you’ve helped us make TripIt better.

In 2010, we set out to do two things – get bigger, and get better. Happily, as the year comes to a close, we can say that we achieved these goals, and then some!

Getting Bigger

First of all, the TripIt team more than doubled in size in 2010. We added many smart, talented new folks to the mix, and everyone, new and seasoned team members alike, did a bang-up job in 2010. I’m grateful to have such a fabulous group of people working so hard for TripIt.

Another area of 2010 growth for TripIt was funding- we closed on our third round last March, a whopping $7 million from the terrific people at Azure Capital Partners and O’Reilly Alpha Tech Ventures. The support of these world class investors was crucial to accelerating the development of more great products to streamline the travel experience.

On the subject of more great products, here is an overview of our product releases in 2010:

• In Jan, we added TripIt for Blackberry to our catalog of free mobile apps.
• In March, we launched TripIt Groups to make it easier for companies to track their trips using a group travel map. By May, more than 10,000 companies were using Groups!
• Also in March, new TripIt for Google Apps was the only travel app featured in the launch of the Google Apps Marketplace.
• In August, we made itinerary creation truly effortless with Auto Import for Gmail and Google Apps.
• In Sept, TripIt Pro started tracking airfare refunds and alerting subscribers who might be eligible for money back from an airline. By November, one in ten monitored flights was eligible for a refund!
• In Nov we launched some special TripIt for Business features that let travel planners create itineraries for other travelers, organize all office travel in a convenient dashboard, and keep travelers in the know, on the go.
• And, just in time for the holidays, TripIt Pro Gifting has made it possible for people buy gift subscriptions of TripIt Pro for the travelers they know and /or love.

And last, but certainly not least, 2010 saw a huge increase in the number of travelers using TripIt. In fact, TripIt users traveled nearly 2 billion miles (and even more kilometers!) this year. Amazing!

Getting Better

With a bigger team and more funding, we had the opportunity to make some valuable improvements to TripIt. These were largely driven by feedback from our travelers, so again, I have to say thanks, and please, keep it coming!

In April, we gave our iPhone app a face lift for easier access to important trip information. In June we updated TripIt Pro alternate flights with more flight search returns, flexible date ranges, and other tweaks to make it even more useful for frequent travelers. This fall we launched some major improvements to the TripIt Itinerator (the technology that automagically makes itineraries out of the emails you forward to plans@tripit.com). We stopped it from adding duplicate flights to trips, and helped it identify changes and updates in flight reservations. These have been two of our most oft-requested product improvements, and we were thrilled to roll these out, and watch as the Itinerator continued to get even smarter.

We entered into some great partnerships this year:

• American Express partnered with TripIt on a NEW American Express® Travel App for iPhone and Blackberry.
• Orbitz for Business offered their travelers the option to synchronize their Orbitz for Business bookings with TripIt in one simple click.
• TripIt integration with Cornerstone-enabled travel agencies gave them a complete, multi-source trip management solution, with virtually no implementation effort.
• Hertz #1 Club Gold and Regus Gold each teamed up with TripIt to offer TripIt Pro users a free year of their premium services for travelers.
• Christopherson Business Travel integrated their AirPortal web platform with TripIt.
• Lexmark added a TripIt app to its Pinnacle Pro touch screen printers.
• Jet Blue selected TripIt as its official mobile partner for their 2010 “All You Can Jet” promotion.

And we also worked with a fun creative partner called Epipheo to make an animated video that explains TripIt’s secret sauce.

Moving Forward

With 2010 now behind us, we’re ready to take a bite out of 2011! We learned a lot in the past year, and we’ll be dialing it up to 11 in the coming months…look out for lots more product updates, some exciting new developments on the mobile front, and even bigger, even better things to come. Happy New Year!