Johnny Boufarhat, the CEO of British events scaleup Hopin, revealed that he is stepping down from his position. The company has also undergone significant changes, selling its original product, the Hopin events platform, to US listed SaaS company RingCentral. The specifics of the deal remain undisclosed.
Following Johnny Boufarhat’s departure, Badri Rajasekar, the current Chief Technology and Product Officer at Hopin, will assume the role of CEO starting next month, as stated in a blog post released by the company.
Hopin’s journey has been remarkable, achieving unicorn status faster than any other European company by securing a $400 million Series C funding round at a $5.65 billion valuation in 2021, less than two years after its launch. The company also expanded its reach by acquiring various businesses, including Streamyard, a video streaming platform, purchased for $250 million in 2021. Streamyard has since become Hopin’s primary revenue driver. Notably, the RingCentral deal does not involve the Streamyard product.
Investors in Hopin include Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, IVP, Coatue, DFJ Growth, Northzone, Salesforce Ventures, Tiger Global, Seedcamp, and Accel.
Despite its initial success, Hopin faced challenges during the pandemic. In 2022, the company went through multiple rounds of layoffs, leading to a significant reduction in headcount, from 1,100 employees in January to 505 in December 2022, according to data collected by Synaptic.
Additionally, Hopin’s UK company accounts are considerably overdue, with the last filed accounts covering the year up to January 2021. The expected accounts for the year ending January 2022 were initially due at the start of the year and are now seven months late.
As part of the RingCentral deal, in addition to the Hopin events platform, RingCentral has acquired Hopin’s “Session” interactive meetings product and a suite of onsite event management tools called Boomset, which Hopin obtained in 2021. The teams responsible for these products will also transition to RingCentral.
It is worth mentioning that Johnny Boufarhat has already sold $195 million of his shares in the company, as reported by FT analysis. Despite stepping down as CEO, he will remain on Hopin’s board. Boufarhat’s success in Hopin led him to be included in the Sunday Times’ annual rich list earlier this year, with an estimated worth of £1.7 billion (on paper).
Hopin’s record as the fastest unicorn was surpassed shortly afterward by German speedy grocery company Gorillas, another scaleup facing recent challenges.
As the transition unfolds, Hopin will undoubtedly adapt to its new leadership and strategic direction. We reached out to Hopin for comment on these developments.