Image: © shunevich/Stock.adobe.com
The virtual events platform raised $400m in its latest funding round, bringing its valuation to more than $5bn.
Hopin has raised $400m in Series C funding, in a round co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and General Catalyst, with participation from IVP.
The latest funding brings the company’s valuation to $5.65bn, more than double the $2bn valuation it had last November and far above its $40m valuation in June 2020.
The UK company launched its virtual events platform in early 2020, just as the Covid-19 pandemic was spreading around the world. In a blog post, Hopin CEO and co-founder Johnny Boufarhat said demand for virtual events tech “exploded overnight”.
“Even though we were a small team and halfway through a redesign, we decided to go for it and launched six months early, in March 2020,” he said.
“Fortunately, even in those early days, our customers told us that Hopin felt just like an in-person event. Word started to spread. Ten customers became 100, then 1,000, then 10,000.”
In November 2020, when the company closed $125m in Series B funding, Boufarhat said the platform had added 3.5m users in 10 months. Since then, Hopin has acquired two companies to expand its event capabilities, snapping up Topi in December 2020 and StreamYard in January 2021.
‘High expectations’
“Now, more than 80,000 organisations use Hopin and 3.6m video content creators use StreamYard, with millions more attending and viewing every month. From almost nothing in March 2020, our business has grown to north of $70m in [annual recurring revenue],” said Boufarhat.
He added that the $5.65bn valuation figure brings “high expectations” but also serves as a testament to what the team has achieved in a year.
Last month, the company announced the release of a new mobile app to tie in with its online event hosting platform. The app serves as a companion to the desktop platform or as a second screen experience for organisers and attendees.
Hopin added more than 200 new employees to support the company’s growth and Boufarhat said it plans to increase its headcount by another 1,000 this year.
TechCrunch reports that the company intends on being operationally IPO-ready next year. However, speaking to CNBC, Boufarhat said that even if the company is IPO-ready, “it’s more likely we would hold off on it and continue being agile.”
