#Hopper travel series#
Hopper didn’t reveal a specific valuation at this latest round, but it did say the number has risen fivefold since early 2020.Canadian travel startup Hopper has raised a $170 million Series F round, led by Capital One. Other investors in Hopper’s series G round include Goldman Sachs Growth, Glade Brook Capital, WestCap, and Accomplice. Just before the pandemic hit, the company claimed 362 workers, a number that has now grown to over 1,000. Lalonde added that many of the employees who were laid off later returned, and the company’s workforce has rebounded threefold. Admittedly, the company took such a hard hit last year that it was forced to lay off 40% of its workforce, but it said it has already surpassed its pre-pandemic revenue peak (from Q1 2020) by more than 100%. “The first Hopper Cloud customers are going live between now and the end of the year, but based on the current demand for Hopper Cloud, we expect it to be a major part of our operations, revenue, and capital expenditures.”Īs the world slowly emerges from the pandemic, Hopper said its current run rate means it’s on course to hit 330% revenue growth compared to last year. “With the B2B business specifically, it will be used to continue to scale the team,” Lalonde said.
It is also positioned to double down on its API-powered B2B product suite. With a fresh $175 million in the bank, the company is now well-financed to continue growing its consumer-facing platform, which has seen its mobile app downloaded some 60 million times.
Including its latest cash injection, which was led by GPI Capital, Hopper has raised around $600 million since its inception. Shifting to B2B while retaining a direct consumer focus has also positioned Hopper to contend with heavyweights of the online travel realm, such as Expedia,, and Google Travel. Hopper’s new focus on fintech has helped it cement a relationship with travel-focused global distribution systems (GDS) company Amadeus, which is gearing up to distribute Hopper’s B2B smarts through its own network of airlines, travel agencies, meta-search companies, and more. All of these features and services are available as part of Hopper Cloud, allowing travel-focused companies to integrate them into their own products. More broadly, it touts a flexible approach in the event of travel cancellations or schedule changes - including a “change for any reason” plan that enables customers to reschedule a flight up to 24 hours before departure, with Hopper paying any airlines fees the change may incur. On top of that, Hopper offers trip protection insurance provided by AON. “By locking in the price of the ticket, travelers are gaining certainty that it won’t increase in the volatile market while gaining time and flexibility to confirm plans with those they are traveling with before purchasing.” “It targets travelers early in the funnel, even before they book,” Lalonde said. This guarantee encourages would-be travelers to commit to a purchase. In late 2019, Hopper started working on a suite of AI-powered products, including a price-freezing feature that uses “proprietary short-term prediction algorithms” to allow customers to lock in a maximum price for flights for up to 14 days and hotels for up to 60 days, with the assurance that if the price drops during that time they’ll pay the lower amount. “Our business model was like every other online travel agency, where we would receive a booking commission from our airline or hotel partners when a customer booked a trip in the app.” “Hopper used to be known solely for its predictions technology that told customers to buy now or wait for a better deal,” Hopper CEO and cofounder Fred Lalonde told VentureBeat. Hopper has sought to establish a greater fintech focus while offering customers flexibility and peace of mind around their travel bookings.
0 kommentar(er)
