Two-year-old events start-up Hopin boomed in the pandemic. Now it's a $7.75 billion business

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Virtual events start-up Hopin had only eight employees in March 2020; its headcount now stands at 800.

Now, the company has bagged yet another mega investment, its fourth since February last year.

Hopin said Thursday it has raised $450 million in a funding round co-led by Arena Holdings and Altimeter Capital. The latest cash injection values the start-up at a whopping $7.75 billion, making it one of Europe's most valuable tech unicorns."I feel lucky," he told CNBC in an interview Thursday. "You work really hard, and you make some critical decisions to get your business to where it is. But there's also a really big part of luck that takes you there.

The Australian-born entrepreneur started Hopin in London in June 2019 after falling ill with an autoimmune disease that prevented him from leaving the house. His company's platform lets organizations host events online with up to 100,000 attendees, with tools for virtual talks and one-to-one networking. It proved a hit during the pandemic, and now has over 100,000 customers includingThe rising valuation of the business has made Boufarhat Britain's youngest self-made billionaire on paper, according to theTo put Hopin's growth into perspective, the company had only eight employees in March 2020. Its headcount now stands at 800.

"Quite a few things that had to click in place for that to happen were out of my control," Boufarhat said of the company's success. "It's actually sad, we wish Covid never happened. We were still growing fast pre-Covid but obviously Covid was a massive accelerator for the company."Hopin has snapped up a number of other start-ups including livestreaming Streamyard and video collaboration app Jamm in a bid to expand its suite of products.

 

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