Wealthsimple recently became the latest major Canadian technology company to benefit from a booming global secondary market. Hopper could be the next.
Secondaries have become an increasingly popular means of generating liquidity amid a continually cool exit market. Jefferies Private Capital found global secondary volume hit a record $68 billion in H1 2024. Along with Wealthsimple, Clio and Safe Software have also executed big secondaries this year. Each company has its own motivation, but all are choosing to do so at a time when going public is not a viable option.
Hopper president Dakota Smith recently told BetaKit the company is in no rush to go public. Brightspark partner Sophie Forest, an early Hopper backer and board member, said Hopper has more “secondary potential” the longer it stays private. The Montréal-based online travel platform executed secondaries in 2016 and 2020—the latter with an expectation that it might have gone public by now. But the IPO market has frozen over.
“If the IPO potential doesn’t materialize, then obviously some investors will want liquidity and the secondary market is a logical path,” Forest told BetaKit.
Forest said Hopper is not formally exploring secondaries currently, but the further an exit gets pushed down the road, the more likely it will pull the trigger to keep shareholders appeased. Were Hopper to pursue another deal, Forest suspects its motivation would be similar to Clio: reward employees and early investors.
Hopper’s employees could do with a morale boost: BetaKit staff writer Alex Riehl just covered the company’s second restructuring in just over a year. You can read that and more below.
Josh Scott
Reporter
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TOP STORIES OF THE WEEK
Canadian lawsuits take on Big Tech
Canadian organizations have decided to take Big Tech to the courtroom, challenging the way Google and OpenAI conduct business in two different lawsuits this week.
Canada’s Competition Bureau is suing Google for what it calls anti-competitive conduct in Canada’s online advertising technology services. As part of the lawsuit, the Bureau is seeking an order that would require Google to cease anti-competitive practices and sell two of its adtech tools.
Meanwhile, Canada’s largest news media companies teamed up to file a lawsuit against OpenAI on Friday, alleging that the company infringed on their copyright to train the model that powers its massively popular chatbot ChatGPT. The lawsuit is potentially seeking statutory damages of $20,000 per allegedly infringed work. According to the filing, the news companies own and have published a combined 10.65 million works since 2015.
Shopify calls on feds to “do whatever is necessary” to resolve Canada Post strike before Black Friday
Shopify released an open letter calling on the federal government to “do whatever is necessary,” including binding arbitration or legislation, to get striking Canada Post workers back to work ahead of the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend.
Following publication of the letter, Minister of Labour and Seniors Steve MacKinnon told reporters that sending the Canada Post dispute to binding arbitration “is not in the cards” given the “fundamental” issues on the table.
As Black Friday has come and gone, Canada Post workers remain on strike.
Belgian VC Theodorus relocates to Canada under new name to target early-stage life sciences startups
After four funds over more than 20 years, Belgium’s Theodorus is exiting European investing entirely to pursue North American life sciences companies from its new Montréal headquarters. “
This is the place to be,” Seido co-founder and partner Olivier Belenger told BetaKit in an interview. “This is the place to develop the new vision.”
Firestarter program goes national with funding from BDC Thrive Lab
An Atlantic Canadian pilot program aimed at supporting women and non-binary founders is officially going national thanks to funding from the Business Development Bank of Canada’s Thrive Lab.
The national virtual program will be launching a new cohort in early 2025 that will culminate in a $100,000 pitch competition in Toronto, in time for International Women’s Day.
Charles Mandel always filed on time
Charles Mandel was short and short-tempered. He was quick to file, faster still with a joke or pun, and always looking for an opportunity to lighten the mood.
A senior writer at BetaKit for almost three years, Charles never missed a deadline, even if that meant driving his editors crazy or his story off the beaten path.
Charles passed away one year ago today at the age of 64 after a difficult battle with cancer.
To honour his memory, BetaKit would like to share stories of his work and life.
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Workers are embracing AI faster than employers can keep up
There is an urgent need for employers to establish clear policies and training to ensure artificial intelligence is used responsibly and effectively in the workplace, according to new research.
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Interest rate cuts haven’t helped Canadian small business—yet
In the first three months of the year, small businesses were doing notably better across three core metrics—sales growth, late payments, and time to be paid. The Bank of Canada had decided to start cutting interest rates in June, and it wasn’t unreasonable to expect a potential boost to consumer spending. Expectations for an economic rebound were growing.
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BetaKit’s Weekly Roundup
CGY – Dental platform Oraq AI closes $2.6M CAD in seed funding
CGY – Exro Technologies targeted by class-action lawsuit
TOR – FleetOps rebrands to Class8, secures $30.8M CAD Series A
TOR – Boosted.ai raises $20.9M CAD bridge round to grow AI platform
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TOR – Halal FinTech startup Manzil launches wealth management solution
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MTL – Hopper lays off approximately 10 percent of staff
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The BetaKit Podcast
Mama don’t take my Google Chrome away
“Browsers aren’t a business. Browsers don’t make money. These are loss leaders for other connected experiences because no one wants to pay for the window to the web.”
The DOJ wants to take Chrome away from Google. Arc wants to build a better browser for everyone. Rob Kenedi wants to decelerate tech with his new show, which is not (yet) a browser. Let’s dig in.
Take The BetaKit Quiz
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This week: Shopify’s federal swing, Hopper trims its wings, and Google gets served.
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Feature image courtesy Hopper.
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