UK virtual events firm Hopin raises $125 million from Tiger Global, Accel

By Supantha and Mukherjee

STOCKHOLM, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Hopin, a British-based provider of virtual events, has raised $125 million (94.43 million pounds) from venture capitalists, including Tiger Global and Accel, helping to drive a surge in its valuation to $2 billion from $43 million less than a year ago.

As the new coronavirus kept people indoors to try to contain its spread, conferences moved online, benefiting Hopin, which has 3.5 million users on its platform compared with 5,000 in February.

"We started the year with six people at Hopin, and we are ending the year with close to 250," Chief Executive Officer Johnny Boufarhat told Reuters.

The company raised $6.5 million in February and $40 million in June.

Other investors include IVP, Coatue, DFJ Growth, Northzone, Salesforce Ventures and Seedcamp.

"Backing Hopin was a no-brainer - it was one of the quickest deals we've ever agreed," said Paul Murphy, partner at Northzone.

Hopin, which counts the United Nations, Apple and Spotify amongst its customers, allows meeting participants to network online in new ways, exchange virtual business cards, and get a summary of their new connections after an event.

Boufarhat said he will only consider raising money again if Hopin decides to buy another company or invest in a new product.

"We are profitable now and if we can use this money and take us all the way to an IPO that would be fantastic," he said.

(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee, European Technology & Telecoms Correspondent, based in Stockholm; editing by Barbara Lewi)