Hopin targets hybrid, in-person events with Boomset buy
Reuters
Published Jun 16, 2021 12:42
By Supantha Mukherjee
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Hopin, a British-based provider of events, said on Wednesday it has bought an in-person event company Boomset to help clients plan, produce and share events whether hybrid, physical or virtual.
The global video conferencing and events market received a boost after the COVID-19 pandemic sparked a mass shift to online working, learning and socialising. Companies, such as Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Zoom and Hopin saw the number of meeting participants skyrocket.
Hopin's platform allows meeting participants to network online in new ways, exchange virtual business cards, and get a summary of their connections after an event.
With Boomset, Hopin will expand beyond online to offer services such as issuing badges, self-service kiosks, QR code check-in, cashless payments for in-person gatherings.
"For organisers that use us, it's no longer a question of what do I use with Hopin, but rather just using Hopin for almost everything," Chief Executive Johnny Boufarhat said in an interview.
While in-person events have largely ceased since the pandemic, Mobile World Congress, one of the world's biggest industry conferences, is trying to organize https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-mobileworld-analys-idCAKCN2D50Y3 one later this month in Barcelona.
Hopin did not disclose the purchase price for Boomset, which counts Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) and Target (NYSE:TGT) among its customers, but said it was in the tens of millions, much less than the $250 million it paid for video streaming studio StreamYard in January.
The company raised $400 million in March, taking its valuation to $5.65 billion. Founded in 2019, Hopin had raised https://www.reuters.com/article/hopin-fundraising-idINL3N2L224S $6.5 million in February last year, $40 million in June and $125 million in November.
Hopin, which has more than 100,000 customers, Poshmark, American Express (NYSE:AXP), and The Financial Times, was profitable last year.
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"We have over $450 million in the bank ... there's always potential that we would do another round by the end of the year," Boufarhat said.
Written By: Reuters
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