Virtual events startup Hopin raises its 4th funding round in 20 months, more than doubling its valuation to $5 billion

<p><img src="https://static1.businessinsider.com/image/5ff6ead66d61c10019cce16f-2400/Johnny Boufarhat.jpg" alt="Johnny Boufarhat" data-mce-source="Hopin" data-mce-caption="Johnny Boufarhat Hopin founder and CEO" border="0"></p><p></p><bi-shortcode id="summary-shortcode" data-type="summary-shortcode" class="mceNonEditable" contenteditable="false">Summary List Placement</bi-shortcode><p>Digital events startup Hopin has raised its fourth funding round in just 20 months with a $400 million capital injection led by Silicon Valley giants Andreeseen Horowitz and General Catalyst.&nbsp;</p><p>London-headquartered Hopin, which is less than two years old and has yet to publish its first financials, has now achieved a valuation of $5 billion. The startup&nbsp; has been a winner of the pandemic as events organizers scrambled to move conferences online. Hopin provides software to bring conferences and live events online and says it is bringing thousands of new organizations in each day.&nbsp;</p><p>Hopin was incorporated in the UK in June 2019. It raised&nbsp;<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hopin-buzzy-tech-startup-raises-65-million-from-accel-and-northzone-2020" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="80" data-uri="9c24dcc11aa359450bc03a93c7da948f">its $6.5 million seed round in February</a>&nbsp;2020 having barely launched its product. That valuation went up to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/virtual-events-startup-hopin-raises-40-million-as-demand-explodes-2020-6" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="80" data-uri="ece98f1a15f7e5d3dd25b3a2255f739f">$350 million just four months later</a> when Silicon Valley growth fund IVP led a $40 million Series A into the business. Investors couldn't get enough and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hopin-pandemic-jumpstarts-events-startup-to-rapid-unicorn-status-2020-11">Hopin raised again last November to reach a $2.1 billion valuation after a $125 million round led by Tiger Global and Coatue</a>.&nbsp;</p><p>The company has now raised $571.5 million in the past 12 months or so, as technology investors seek to place bets on firms that can survive and grow during a pandemic.</p><p>"This fundraising process was much shorter than the others because I have a team to help me now," Johnny Boufarhat, Hopin founder and CEO, told Insider in an interview. "Our new investors bring great domain expertise and networks. They can help us with hiring executives and open a lot of doors to customers for us with their connections."</p><p>Hopin opened up to investors for one week to allow them to submit offers at the start of February. The company's growth in the past year has been rapid, with Hopin now boasting around 80,000 customers, $70 million in annual recurring revenue, and around 440 employees, Boufarhat said. (ARR is a metric that software startups use to indicate the yearly value of their contracts.)</p><p>In December, Hopin made its first acquisition in the form of New York networking app, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hopin-live-events-acquires-topi-further-ma-2020-12">Topi</a>, before following that up with <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hopin-acquires-streamyard-250-million-deal-2021-1">a $250 million deal to buy live streaming platform StreamYard</a>in January 2021.&nbsp;</p><p>"We want to be the definitive company that connects people," Boufarhat added. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/virtual-events-startup-hopin-raises-40-million-as-demand-explodes-2020-6">He has previously stated his intention to be the fastest-growing startup in the world</a>. Since November's Series B funding round, Hopin claims to have added some 30,000 new customers including companies such as Poshmark, Hewlett Packard, American Express, The Financial Times, and YMCA.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hopin-live-events-acquires-topi-further-ma-2020-12" >$2.1 billion live events startup Hopin made its first acquisition with networking app Topi and is planning 'aggressive' future M&A</a></strong></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hopin-5-billion-valuation-4000-million-a16z-general-catalyst-2021-3#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-its-like-make-beer-with-picobrew-c-home-brew-2020-3">We tested a machine that brews beer at the push of a button</a></p>
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