Factbox: Gtrot

CHICAGO (Reuters) - During forays to all seven continents, Brittany Laughlin was frustrated she couldn't more easily tap her friends' social network feeds for travel tips and recommendations. After an extensive search of tech companies incorporating travel, Laughlin discovered Gtrot and later became a co-founder with Zach Smith.

****************************

Company: Gtrot, marries travel with social networking by tapping into Facebook to organize travel plans shared by friends.

Location: Chicago, IL

Founded: 2009

Founders: Zach Smith and Brittany Laughlin

Employees: 8

Original startup costs/investment: $15,000 in seed money from Harvard's Innovation Challenge; raised a Series A round from Chicago-based Lightbank for "just under $1 million."

Biggest challenge to growing the company: Building brand awareness in the crowded online travel space.