Adam Goldstein, the 23-year-old Hipmunk co-founder, has been dabbling in travel search since he became the de facto travel agent for his debate team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
In October, Excite, which is evolving from the second-largest Internet search site to a fully fledged online service, bought NetBot in order to acquire the firm's shopping-agent technology, with which it hopes to create a virtual megastore.