LinkedIn links up with UK’s virtual events unicorn Hopin as strategic investor and partner

Just last month, in May 2021, London-based virtual events unicorn, Hopin, acquired video hosting service Streamable and video technology company Jamm. With this development, the technology from both companies was to be integrated into Hopin’s current product offering for the development of future video products and features.

LinkedIn invests in Hopin

In a recent development, Hopin has announced that LinkedIn has become an investor via the company’s oversubscribed Series C secondary round. In addition, the two companies are also planning to work together to help event organisers extend the reach of their events.

According to Scott Roberts, VP of Business Development at LinkedIn, “Virtual events are here to stay, and we recognise our customers use many platforms, so we want to make it easy for them to extend the reach of their live events onto LinkedIn. Together with Hopin and Streamyard, we’ll be exploring more ways that we can help event organisers and attendees build meaningful connections and form long-lasting communities.”

The news follows the company’s recent funding of $400M in its Series C round that was co-led by new investors Andreessen Horowitz and General Catalyst, and existing investor IVP, with participation from returning investors Coatue, DFJ Growth, Northzone, Salesforce Ventures and Tiger Global. In November 2020, the company raised $125M in its Series B round of funding. And, since February 2020, Hopin has raised more than $565M in funding.

Use of the capital

The proceeds from this round will help Hopin to accelerate its growth, scale, and support its business. Besides, the company will also continue investing in the development of its platform technologies in areas such as video and mobile.

Speaking on the development, Johnny Boufarhat, CEO and Founder of Hopin says, “We’re grateful to have LinkedIn’s support and shared vision to provide meaningful connections around the world. LinkedIn is more than just an investor, we are closely collaborating to help LinkedIn members and Hopin users engage with more people and discover immersive experiences. We can’t wait to share more soon as Hopin continues to transform the way we all connect.”

The event company believes that video and mobile are crucial to defining the future of hybrid events. And as part of its multi-product strategy in 2020, Hopin acquihired the mobile app development team from Topi and acquired video streaming company StreamYard, adding StreamYard’s 3.6 million video content creators to its base. And in 2021, it acquired video hosting provider Streamable as well as video technology company jamm.

About Hopin

The company was founded in 2019 by Johnny Boufarhat. It is a live virtual events platform where attendees can learn, interact, and connect with people from anywhere in the world. The platform also allows users to create live online events that are interactive and personal whether they are hosting a live training workshop, bringing a company’s remote team together, or launching a full-scale digital conference.

Hopin’s platform hosts virtual events such as large-scale tech events, major international conferences, and even weddings. Attendees can network one-on-one, break out into group sessions, watch keynote presentations, send chat messages and polls, and explore interactive expo areas.

The company currently has more than 550 employees in 42 countries since the beginning of 2020 and has grown from a few hundred event creators to more than 95,000 organisations with millions of attendees showing up each month.