Hopin raises a further $ 450m as company ’ s value hits $ 7.75bn
vent platform Hopin , announced in August it had raised $ 450m in Series D funding co-led by new investors Arena Holdings and Altimeter Capital . There is also participation from new investors Adams Street Partners , Untitled Investments and XN , in addition to existing investors Andreessen Horowitz , DFJ Growth , General Catalyst , GIC , IVP , Northzone , Salesforce Ventures , Slack Fund , Temasek and Tiger Global .
Since February 2020 , Hopin , which was only founded in 2019 , has raised more than $ 1bn . This new round values the company at $ 7.75bn .
The announcement follows Hopin ’ s acquisitions of Boomset and Attendify in support of its expansion beyond virtual to become an all-in-one event management platform .
Hopin has scaled from six to more than 800 employees in over 47 countries since the beginning of 2020 and says that 100,000 organisations now host events on the platform
“ Hopin started with the goal of giving people more options for meaningful connection ,” said CEO and founder , Johnny Boufarhat ( pictured below ). “ We continue to uplevel with the priority to become accessible to all … We are grateful for the ongoing support and confidence of our investors to actualise this .”
The acquisition of Boomset earlier this year added onsite capabilities such as kiosk , badges and more to Hopin ’ s hybrid offerings . Additionally , with the more recent acquisition of Attendify , Hopin has enhanced its event marketing suite to provide data-driven registration and engagement tools .
Also in 2021 , Hopin acquired video hosting provider Streamable and set its sights on collaboration with the acquisition of video technology company jamm .
“ The pandemic has forever changed how companies and communities interact and connect with their audiences and each other ,” said Brad Gerstner , founder and CEO of Altimeter Capital . “ We are thrilled to partner with Johnny Boufarhat and the team on their journey to make the world more connected through Hopin ’ s platform .”
Cvent ’ s SPAC deal with Dragoneer values company at $ 5.3bn
Global event management software and technology provider Cvent is returning to the public markets with a Special Merger Acquisition Company ( SPAC ) deal .
Cvent ’ s SPAC merger is with Dragoneer Growth Opportunities Corp . II and values the company at USD $ 5.3bn .
Cvent , founded in 1999 , expects to use $ 801m of the capital raised by the transaction to accelerate innovation and expand its product offerings .
Special purpose acquisition companies ( SPACs ) have emerged as a viable alternative to initial public offerings ( IPOs ), because they are often faster to arrange .
Among the private investors in the public equity ( PIPE ) is Zoom Video Communications Inc , Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC , Hedosophia and Oaktree Capital Management L . P .
“ We believe that Cvent ’ s event technology is complementary to what we offer as a video communications leader and our organisations already have a long track record of working together as technology partners and as users of each other ’ s solutions ,” said Zoom CFO , Kelly Steckelberg .
Cvent CEO and founder , Reggie Aggarwal ( pictured above ), said : “ The meetings and events industry has experienced rapid digital transformation over the last 18 months , with the pandemic creating a new paradigm for the industry . Events became digitised through virtual and online experiences , and we invested heavily in expanding our virtual event capabilities . Now , we are engaging in a hybrid world , as in-person events resume , and virtual events remain prominent . With the increased digitisation of our industry , events are ‘ always on ’ and have fewer boundaries . My management team and our nearly 4,000 employees around the world are excited for the opportunity to continue to innovate .”
Dragoneer founder and managing partner , Marc Stad , said : “ We are excited to lock arms with Cvent and help position the business for its next phase of growth as a publicly listed company .”
The boards of directors of both Cvent and Dragoneer have unanimously approved the proposed business combination , which is expected to be completed in the Fourth Quarter of 2021 .
8 / CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD / ISSUE 114