Bolt expands its Hopp ride-hailing brand into Canadian corporate travel


A year after its consumer launch in Toronto, Bolt’s North American brand Hopp has introduced a corporate mobility product targeting finance teams frustrated by fragmented expense reporting. It enters a market where Canada’s business travel spending was forecast to grow 17.7% to CAD $44.3 billion in 2025.


Bolt, the Estonian mobility company that operates in more than 50 countries, has expanded its Canadian ride-hailing brand Hopp into corporate travel with the launch of Hopp for Business across 17 municipalities in the Greater Toronto Area.

The move comes a year after Hopp’s consumer debut in the GTA in February 2025, during which riders have collectively covered more than 72 million kilometres on the platform, according to the company.

Hopp for Business adds centralised billing, configurable spending limits, automated receipt generation, and integration with expense management platforms to the standard ride-hailing product. A feature called Ride Booker allows organisations to schedule travel for employees, partners, or guests who do not themselves need to use the Hopp app.

The 💜 of EU tech

The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol’ founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It’s free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!

Hopp says the product can save employees around 20 minutes a month in manual expense reporting, and that companies using it across other markets have achieved savings of up to 25% on travel spend by centralising management, a figure it attributes to internal benchmarking.

The GTA coverage is broader than the original consumer launch. Hopp for Business is available across Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Markham, Hamilton, Oakville, Oshawa, Whitby, Milton, Burlington, Pickering, Aurora, Halton Hills, King City, and Ajax, extending into industrial zones and suburban business parks beyond the city centre.

Bolt’s regional general manager André de la Torre framed the launch as a deliberate challenge to an overly concentrated market. ‘The North American ride-hailing market has faced years of limited competition and rising costs,’ he said. ‘We’re here to give Canadian businesses and riders a better alternative.’

Canada is not a small prize. The Global Business Travel Association ranked it the 13th largest business travel market globally in 2024 and forecast spending would grow 17.7% to CAD $44.3 billion in 2025, up from $36.5 billion the year before. Corporate ground transport is a growing share of that spend as hybrid working patterns generate more short city trips.

Hopp’s pitch into the business segment also positions it where Bolt may find it easier to win accounts from Uber: corporate procurement decisions are shaped by cost controls and reporting requirements rather than consumer habit, which gives a challenger with a lower commission model a more structured sales argument.

Bolt charges drivers a 15% commission, which it claims is lower than Uber’s approximate 25%, allowing it to price rides more competitively while maintaining driver earnings.

Bolt was founded in Tallinn in 2013 by Markus Villig and is valued at approximately €7.4 billion following a funding round led by Sequoia Capital and Fidelity Management. It operates across Europe, Africa, Asia, and Latin America alongside its newer North American presence.

The Hopp consumer product launched in the GTA in February 2025, covering Toronto, Mississauga, Markham, Vaughan, and Richmond Hill. The Toronto ride-hailing market is one of the most contested in North America: the city has more than 80,000 licensed ride-share drivers and processes an estimated 250,000 vehicle-for-hire trips daily.



Source link

Leave a Reply

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Get our latest articles delivered straight to your inbox. No spam, we promise.

Recent Reviews


Serials have become the backbone of the streaming era, especially on Netflix. Serialized television is when a show’s plot unfolds in sequential order over the course of a season. It’s long-form storytelling that typically works best with dramas—Stranger Things, The Crown, etc. Watching the episodes in release order matters. Often, these shows are binged because the complex character arcs and cliffhangers encourage streaming multiple episodes at once.

Serial shows can feel like homework, especially when you fall behind on an episode and need to catch up. That always happens to me, and it leads to anxiety I didn’t want. Thankfully, Netflix offers shows where viewers can jump at any time and not feel lost. These episodic series are perfect for jumping around and picking the episodes you want to watch. One of the most famous comedies ever fits the criteria of an episodic sitcom. Anthology shows, including a Netflix sci-fi classic, are also ideal for watching episodes out of order.

Black Mirror

Welcome to your worst nightmare

Black Mirror wants to scare you. Charlie Brooker’s sci-fi anthology series has been warning humanity about the dangers of technology since 2011. It seems like ages ago that Rory Kinnear had sexual intercourse with a pig in the first episode. Apologies for the spoiler, but the media’s role in the spread of misinformation has never been more relevant.

Black Mirror features self-contained episodes with a beginning, middle, and an end. There has only been one direct sequel: USS Callister: Into Infinity, a season 7 episode that continues the events of season 4’s USS Callister. Otherwise, feel free to jump around and check out the best episodes of each season. Since most episodes feature bleak endings, I’ll leave you with one that ends on an upbeat note: San Junipero.

Seinfeld

Greatest comedy ever?

Comedies are the perfect vehicle for episodic storytelling. While having an overarching plot throughout a season helps attract viewers, many comedy fans are just looking for a few laughs. Write a self-contained story with numerous jokes over 20 to 30 minutes, and you’re ready to go. Seinfeld, aka the show about nothing, is the ideal escape from serialized dramas.

Seinfeld stars Jerry Seinfeld as a fictionalized version of himself as he navigates the comedic scene in New York City. The show revolves around Jerry’s interactions with his friends George (Jason Alexander), Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), and Kramer (Michael Richards). The gang faces a problem, hilarity ensues, and the episode ends. That’s really all you need to know. Enjoy the laughs.

Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities

The genre maestro curates new horror stories

There’s a reason why Guillermo del Toro is considered the “King of the Monsters.” The genre expert is as elite as it comes when dealing with mythology and creating new worlds. The Oscar winner relied on his horror expertise in the anthology series Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities.

I hate referring to episodes of television as “mini-movies.” However, that’s how I would describe the eight episodes of Cabinet of Curiosities. Each director puts their own signature style on a story and brings audiences into their terrifying creation. Del Toro wrote two of the episodes, including one about a demon being summoned. Some are scarier than others, but horror fans will feel right at home with this series. ​​​​​​​

Beat Bobby Flay

Bobby brings the heat

As I’ve gotten older, the Food Network has become one of my favorite channels. I mean, who doesn’t love food? I love eating my (average) home-cooked meal while watching contestants duke it out in the kitchen on my favorite show, Beat Bobby Flay. The competition breaks down into two rounds. In the first round, two chefs have 20 minutes to construct a meal using a secret ingredient. The winner advances to the main event, where they face off against Bobby Flay.

The challenger gets to pick the dish for the final round, so Bobby has a disadvantage. However, Bobby is an award-winning chef with a few tricks up his sleeves. He can handle making a version of your grandmother’s lasagna. With episodes available on Netflix, be prepared to learn why Bobby always throws chiles into his dishes.​​​​​​​

S.W.A.T.

Broadcast TV still knows how to make entertaining programs

The procedural is a genre best produced on broadcast television. Name a cop, doctor, or law drama—chances are it’s a procedural on broadcast TV. While the way we watch television has changed, people still love these types of shows on CBS, NBC, Fox, and ABC. Law & Order, NCIS, and Criminal Minds are procedurals that gained a bigger following thanks to streaming.

S.W.A.T. is cut from the same cloth as Chicago P.D. and CSI. Sergeant Daniel “Hondo” Harrelson (Shemar Moore) is tasked with leading a new S.W.A.T. unit in the LAPD. This action-packed show utilizes a “case of the week” formula in which the team must solve a dangerous situation, such as active shooters and hostage situations. You’re in and out in 44 minutes. What’s better than that?​​​​​​​


Netflix has more content coming your way

After you’re done watching these shows, stay on Netflix for more top-notch content. Netflix has an entire section dedicated to thrillers, and this week, The Guilty and El Camino are two of the section’s best. Keep an eye out for new movies, like Alan Ritchson’s War Machine, which is currently in the streamer’s top 10.

Subscription with ads

Yes, $8/month

Simultaneous streams

Two or four




Source link