The Globe and Mail reports in its Monday edition that Hopper Inc. became one of Canada's largest private technology companies by selling its on-line travel products and services to credit-card issuers and airlines globally. The Globe's Sean Silcoff and Stefanie Marotta write that now it has signed a major long-term deal at home, powering the travel rewards program for Royal Bank of Canada's Avion Rewards Visa cardholders, a relationship that should translate into revenues in the mid-eight figures a year for the Montreal tech company. Hopper displaced RBC's previous on-line travel partner, Expedia, to win the deal. RBC is the first Canadian bank to sign with Hopper, joining 12 global financial institutions that have struck similar deals since 2021, including Capital One Financial in the United States, Lloyds Banking Group in Britain, Brazil-based Nubank, Australia's Commonwealth Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui of Japan. The deal provides more than bragging rights to a Canadian upstart. RBC sees deployment of Hopper -- to which it has exclusive rights among large Canadian banks in its home market -- as a competitive advantage as it attempts to increase its Avion cardholder base by 40 per cent, to 14 million members by 2029.