Mobile travel app Hopper pulled in $170m in a Series F funding round fueled by its new partner Capital One alongside launching Capital One Travel for the banking giant’s cardholders.
The round also saw participation from new and existing investors GS Growth, Inovia Capital, WestCap Group and Citi Ventures.
The new investment marks Hopper’s second fundraise at a time when the travel industry continues to grapple with the disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The round follows Hopper’s $70m round last year bringing the company’s total funding to $423m since its inception.
Founded by Frederic Lalonde, a former vice president at Expedia, Hopper’s platform predicts flight and hotel prices and alerts travellers of new deals allowing them to freeze the price of a flight for up to two weeks.
The partnership between Capital One and Hopper will power a new offering called Capital One Travel to give the bank’s cardholders new ways to book a trip.
With the aim to protect customers from pricing volatility and ensure they get great value when booking flights, hotel, and rental cars, Capital One’s new offering will use Hopper’s technology to offer price prediction and alert technology alongside enabling cardholders to easily change or cancel reservations.
Commenting on the new partnership, Lalonde said, “The money is obviously important to us but we’re actually super excited to be working with Capital One on this. We’re basically rolling out something completely new that is built for the Capital One cardholders.”
The firm doubled revenue last year despite the drop-off in demand for travel amid the pandemic, Lalonde said. “A year ago we were running out of toilet paper,” he said. “People weren’t invested in travel. There’s just been renewed interest, and the innovative travel companies are probably going to do a lot better in the new world post-pandemic.”
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