Canada travel technology business Hopper has just finalized a $175 million Series G funding round led by New York-based GPI Capital. The heavily financed company focused on relieving traveler buying stress, created a unique, data driven tech platform first launched back in 2007.
Since Frederic Lalonde and Joost Ouwerkerk founded Hopper, the startup has launched any number of Fintech products to leverage data. Refundable, Flexible Tickets, and Price Freeze are three worth mentioning here. With the pandemic in mind, Hopper’s revenue 112% revenue growth in spit of the COVID-19 downturn should be mentioned, as well. Frederic Lalonde (image below left), CEO and Co-Founder of Hopper offered this via the announcement:
“The success of our fintech offerings demonstrate that travelers are willing to pay for flexibility and assurance as they resume traveling again. We feel strongly that our fintech offerings through Hopper Cloud can help supercharge the travel industry’s recovery by introducing a totally unique revenue stream for other brands. In fact, if all travel distribution channels offered our fintech, it could increase the total consumer spend for the sector by $200 billion annually.”
Lalonde went on to acknowledge Hopper’s partnering with GPI, and talked about their distinguished track record of supporting iconic consumer internet companies. He also welcomed Khai Ha, Managing Partner at GPI Capital to Hopper’s board.
This investment round included contributions from Glade Brook Capital, WestCap, Goldman Sachs Growth and Accomplice. According to Hopper, the funds are to be used to support future growth, and to recruit the best professionals to support expansion. According to the company, 500 new people will be recruited for things like customer service.
Hopper is also looking to “acqui-hire” teams that may be focused on travel, data science, or engineering-related initiatives, in order to fast-forward the company’s global expansion. The company has already had success in integrating the teams of Journy and Mowgli. According to Crunchbase, Hopper has already received $598.7M over ten rounds. Hopper uses 23 technology products and services including HTML5, Google Analytics, and jQuery, according to their Crunchbase profile.
One service that can help travelers big time is Hopper’s new Price Freeze for Hotels tool that allows users to hold onto a deal they find on a hotel stay for up to 60 days. With the pandemic altering everything day to day, Hopper let’s travelers find a best deal for say, here in Greece, and then if the price goes up during that time, Hopper will cover the difference, up to $100. If the price drops, the guest pays the lower price. This Travel & Leisure story outlines this service.
Hopper also offers valuable insights based on research and data the company accumulates. This Europe report at the onset of tourism reboot 2021 has turned out to be intuitive despite the volatile nature of travel regulations etc. Hopper also intends to use these funds to bolster its entry into new travel segments like home rentals as well as regional expansion into Europe.