The Quebec application for forecasting flight and hotel prices, Hopper, aims to go public in Toronto and on the Nasdaq, which could allow it to obtain a valuation of $5 billion to $10 billion.
During an interview with Bloomberg, its CEO, Quebecer Frédéric Lalonde, showed his colors by affirming that his algorithms are now a “huge competitive advantage”. “Every day, Hopper analyzes more than 30 billion price points in real time,” illustrates the company.
The former financial director of Google, Patrick Pichette, now at Inovia, bet on Hopper. He is a director of the company.
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), Citigroup, Brookfield and Goldman Sachs enabled Hopper to raise some $740 million.
In total, Hopper says it has helped more than 75 million travelers save money.
Images provided by Hopper
«College dropout»
In Frédéric Lalonde’s interview with Bloombergwe mention that the big tech boss describes himself as a “college dropout” and that he started coding at the age of 13.
-The first (non-majority) shareholder of Hopper is WestCap Hopper (New York), indicates the Quebec Business Register. Its second shareholder is Bolton Lakeview Hopper Holdings (Montreal) and its third is CDPQ (Montreal).
More than 650 people work for Hopper worldwide.
-With the collaboration of Julien McEvoy
Canada
