The round valued Hopin at $5.65 billion, up from $2.1 billion last November.

Online events, once necessitated from the pandemic’s demand for social distancing, are here to stay it seems. Companies can scale up virtual events, earn a broader and global reach without boundaries, and do so at much lower costs. What’s more, there are so many more digital data payoffs from the interactions during virtual conferences. These can prove invaluable for marketing teams. Virtual events provider Hopin, which promises to help you set up a virtual event in just minutes, is clearly in a clover patch, judging from its latest raise. (CNBC)

Hopin Series C

Hopin announced today its rays of $ 400 million In a Series C round led by Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, and IVP. Fittingly, the funding negotiations were all conducted online.

Existing investors such as Coatue, DFJ Growth, Northzone, Salesforce Ventures, and Tiger Global also participated in the funding.

Johnny Boufarhat, founder and CEO of Hopin, venture capitalist firms were competing aggressively to back the company.

That signals how bullish investors are about Hopin’s business prospects. Between February 2020 and now, Hopin has raised over $ 565 million. Note that the company was founded only in June 2019.

Boufarhat revealed to TechCrunch that the start-up is currently poised at a $70 million ARR today.

In a statement, it said it had added 30,000 customers since February last year. These include reputable companies such as Poshmark, American Express, Hewlett Packard, The Financial Times, and YMCA.

In that period, it has built up its employee workforce from just six to more than 400.

“We are creating a portfolio of products to build the future of live video collaboration and remote community,” said Boufarhat. “As we’ve seen, the importance of providing unparalleled virtual and hybrid event experiences has never been greater and this latest funding is a reflection of how critical it is as brands look for ways to connect with people and avenues of growth.”

Use of funds

Hopin will use the funding for developing its product and engineering capabilities, as well as to accelerate its growth trajectory.

It will also expand its operations, team, and platform as it grows out into a multiproduct business beyond virtual events.

It said it will invest heavily in the development of particular platform technologies such as video and mobile to streamline hybrid events.

“Johnny and the team have built one of the fastest-growing SaaS companies in history by turning a period of unprecedented disruption into an opportunity to redefine how we gather virtually, in-person, and on the entirely new spectrum of experiences that fall in between,” said Quentin Clark, managing director at General Catalyst. “The scale and speed at which they’ve been able to build Hopin into a global business is impressive. It’s also a clear reminder of the significant depth of enterprise and SaaS talent that exists in Europe today.”

IPO

Boufarhat told CNBC that he certainly has a stock market listing in mind.

“Although we could be ready for an IPO later this year or early next year, it’s more likely we would hold off on it and continue being agile,” he said.

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