Travel tech company Hopper has raised a $175 million Series G, the company said today. That’s nearly the same amount it raised in a Series F round that closed earlier this year. These are indeed new funds, however, bringing its total raised to date to nearly $600 million, with the company now valued at over $3.5 billion. This latest round arrives as Hopper is seeing impressive growth as travel starts to surge on the recent downswings in cases in North America following large-scale COVID-19 vaccination campaigns.

Hopper says that its revenue is on track to surge 330% versus last year, which is hardly surprising, given that 2020 saw the depths of the pandemic and a widespread screeching halt to the bustling global travel industry. The more impressive stat is that Hopper’s revenue is already up 100% versus its last pre-pandemic quarter, indicating the tough choices and aggressive re-prioritization of its products and business it underwent as a result of the pandemic are working well.

Of course, there’s a looming spectre threatening the overall narrative of a travel industry bounce-back: Delta and other COVID-19 variants, which are currently driving another wave of resurgence of the disease in North America. I asked Hopper CEO and co-founder Fred Lalonde about Delta’s impact on Hopper’s business so far.

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