SACRAMENTO, California—November 20, 2007—The founder of YowTRIP.com, software engineer/developer Felipe Coimbra, has been invited to demonstrate his new travel social network technology at The Silicon Valley NewTech Meetup on Tuesday, December 11. In doing so, YowTRIP will join the impressive company of previous demonstrators including Plaxo, Veodia, and Ning — all partners with Google on the OpenSocial initiative.

YowTRIP is a free online service that connects solo travelers around the globe. Launched September 1, YowTRIP uses travel plan matching capabilities to identify which of its members are heading to the same place at the same time.

“About 40 percent of world travelers travel by themselves, but still more end up giving up on their plans because they’re intimidated by the thought of going alone,” says Coimbra. “I’ve met many interesting people on trips by myself, and wished I had been able to connect with them before I departed, so I built YowTRIP.”

The Silicon Valley New Tech Meetup, through its organizer and co-founder of Meetro, Vincent Lauria, serves the technology community by inviting four start-up companies each month to give a run-down of their products/services and hold a Q&A for the 150-member audience from across the globe. Founded in 2006, the group has grown to just shy of 2,000 members and in July was featured on the BBC. It is a prime networking event for start-ups seeking investor interest.

“I try to pick companies that either I feel are on a very good course to do well,” says Lauria, “or have a really unique idea that nobody else is really touching.”