BOSTON, MA — (Marketwire) — 08/15/12 — Today Hopper, the company bringing inspiration back to travel planning, announces a $12 million investment round led by , the venture capital investment arm of OMERS, one of Canada-s largest pension funds. Other participants in this round include and .
Additionally, Derek Smyth of OMERS Ventures will join the Hopper board as a director. This round brings Hopper-s total amount raised to $22 million, including previous investments from Brightspark and Atlas.
OMERS Ventures invests in companies with significant potential and market opportunity, focusing on high-growth companies in the technology, media and telecommunications sectors. Other OMERS Ventures investments include Hootsuite, BuildDirect and Wave Accounting Inc.
“Planning a trip can be tedious and frustrating,” said Frederic Lalonde, CEO of Hopper. “Information is often scattered across the web, making research difficult and time-consuming. Eventually, people feel like they have to settle for just -good enough.- At Hopper, we are working hard to transform this process and bring the joy and inspiration back to travel planning.”
Hopper has already crawled more than half a billion pages of travel data, with plans to double that by the end of the year, making it the largest travel database in the world. This funding round will further the company-s goal of using big data to take the frustration out of trip planning and make travel search smarter. The Hopper has an extensive travel technology background from companies like Expedia and TripAdvisor, providing them with the perspective needed to change trip planning for the better.
“It-s really important to OMERS Ventures that we are leading a significant round of financing for a company like Hopper that has the strong potential to be a game changer in its industry,” said Derek Smyth, Managing Director of OMERS Ventures. “Hopper-s management team is world-class, with the big data expertise required to completely revolutionize the way customers discover and book their online travel. Hopper is exactly the kind of company we look to partner with over the long term as it disrupts an entire industry.”
The first 500 people to sign up at will receive an early peek at the travel site, launching later this year.
is bringing the joy and inspiration back to travel planning. Funded by OMERS Ventures, Atlas Venture and Brightspark Ventures, Hopper is headquartered in Cambridge, MA. Follow us on or .
OMERS Ventures is the venture capital investment arm of OMERS, one of Canada-s largest pension funds with over $55 billion in net assets. It is an initiative of OMERS Strategic Investments (OSI), an investment entity with a mandate to build long-term strategic relationships with like-minded partners. As both an institutional angel investor and a later-stage investor, OMERS Ventures is looking for successful companies with significant growth potential and market opportunities. We are seeking like-minded partners with a shared vision of building a vibrant and successful knowledge economy. For more information please visit .
Contact:
Hopper
Erica Orthmann or Mike Farber
617-945-1915
OMERS Ventures
Lori McLeod
Media Relations
416-369-2399
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