Hopper (company)

Hopper, Inc. is a travel booking app and online travel marketplace that sells flights, hotels, rental cars, and short-term rentals. The company is headquartered in Montreal, Canada and Boston, Massachusetts.

History

Hopper was founded in April 2007 by Frederic Lalonde and Joost Ouwerkerk, both of whom were executives at Expedia Group. It started as a travel planning tool with which a user could search for different places and activities.

In 2012, Dakota Smith joined as a third co-founder and the company received $12 million in Series B funding from investment funds such as OMERS and Atlas Venture.

In January 2014, Hopper was launched after developing its platform for over six years as a startup and new technology incubator. During the development phase between 2007 and 2014, Hopper developed technology that crawled over two billion web pages for travel-related information and added it to Hopper database. In April 2014, Seth Kugel published an article that covered Hopper's online research reports that gave details on how travelers could optimize their travel costs. Hopper shifted its business model in May 2014, becoming a big data-driven website that helped travelers choose where to fly and when to buy their tickets.

In January 2015, the app was launched with functions such as flight price prediction and real-time price monitoring.

In March 2016, $62 million was received in funding to further develop its airfare prediction algorithm. A year later, in 2017, the company expanded its platform by adding a hotel booking service.

In October 2018, the company received an investment of $100 million in funding to expand its services internationally.

In late 2019, the company added fintech-based functions designed to help users optimize their travel costs. In the same year, Hopper launched a sustainability initiative called "Hopper Trees." Within the framework of this program, Hopper funds tree planting for every travel booking made through the company, aiming to offset carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. To facilitate this endeavor, Hopper has partnered with various nonprofit organizations, including Eden Reforestation Projects, which began in 2019, and Veritree, which commenced in 2023.

In March 2021, the company became a unicorn after receiving an investment of $170 million from Capital One. In August 2021, it raised an additional $175 million in a series G funding round led by GPI Capital.

In January 2022, Hopper Homes was launched to provide short-term home rentals. A month later, in February 2022, the company was valued at $5 billion after a $35 million secondary share sale. It received $96 million in additional investment from Capital One in November 2022.

Acquisition history

In late 2019, Hopper acquired a Colombian travel company, named GDX Travel.

In October 2021, the company acquired PlacePass, a Boston-based online booking service. In the same year, Hopper also acquired a trip-planning service, Journy.

In February 2022, a Paris-based merchandising services provider, Smooss, was acquired, for an undisclosed amount.

Technology and applications

Hopper uses machine learning algorithms to dynamically change the price of its fintech offers, which are designed to provide some flexibility for users. Initially, its price-forecasting algorithm that uses historical data to predict flight's price, was designed in 2010 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Hopper applies its technology to give its users some additional fintech functions based on historical data, including "price freezing to protect against pricing volatility", "cancelling or changing flight bookings at short notice", or if a flight is delayed for any reason, changing it without overcharging.

HTS (Hopper Technology Solutions)

In 2021, the company launched its business-to-business initiative HTS, where enterprises can use its white-label travel portals or distribute Hopper's travel and fintech products.

Hopper's customers include Capital One, where Hopper develops its travel booking portal, Capital One Travel.