Flight search website Skyscanner is teaming up with Yahoo Japan to become a leading player in Japan’s multibillion-dollar travel market.
The two companies are forming a joint venture with an initial investment of $2.5 million.
Skyscanner will take a 51% stake in the new entity while Yahoo Japan will own the remaining 49% and both will share technology and staffing resources.
Skyscanner will place its flight search function on Yahoo’s search engine and digital media sites which generates 60 billion monthly page views.
"The joint venture makes sense because we get a chance to integrate directly into the search results of Yahoo Japan, from which we both benefit, and that helps us move up the funnel to the point that someone switches on their phone or computer," said Skyscanner chief executive, Gareth Williams.
"We’ll be looking to do more of that with search engines around the world."
Skyscanner said the venture will significantly raise its profile in a country which has the world’s third largest travel market, forecast to reach $71 billion in travel bookings in 2015, according to travel research group Phocuswright.
