Hopin, a rapidly expanding company offering a technology platform for digital events, revealed this morning its acquisition of StreamYard. The purchased company, which achieved significant revenue growth through self-funding, will maintain its existing brand and product offerings in the marketplace.

The acquisition is valued at $250 million, payable through a combination of cash and company stock. Hopin previously secured $40 million in Series A funding in late June 2020, followed by a $125 million Series B round last November, which established the company’s valuation at $2.125 billion.¹

Hopin previously communicated to TechCrunch that its annual recurring revenue (ARR) increased from zero to $20 million within approximately nine months. In a statement to TechCrunch, Hopin indicated that StreamYard independently reached $30 million in ARR without relying on outside investment. During discussions surrounding the StreamYard acquisition, Hopin CEO Johnny Boufarhat stated that the merged organization would generate roughly $65 million in ARR.

Based on these figures, it’s reasonable to conclude that Hopin has experienced continued substantial growth since its Series B funding.

The rapid progression of a Series B company towards potential IPO status may seem unusual, but it’s important to remember that Hopin’s technology benefited from the shift to online events during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the traditional benchmarks for startup funding rounds regarding size and maturity have become less rigid.

This acquisition will not result in StreamYard being fully integrated into the Hopin product. Instead, StreamYard will continue to operate under its own brand and with its current product to continue serving its existing clientele. Hopin plans to enhance its primary platform by incorporating StreamYard’s streaming technology, while remaining compatible with various streaming providers; StreamYard will function as the recommended streaming solution within Hopin.

Geige Vandentop, co-founder of StreamYard, informed TechCrunch that approximately 15% to 20% of its customers utilize the service for event-related purposes, with the remainder coming from areas such as the creator economy and small businesses.

StreamYard deliberately chose not to seek external funding during its expansion, maintaining a lean team and prioritizing customer feedback to guide its product development. Vandentop stated that StreamYard will continue its practice of weekly livestreams to gather customer input as part of the Hopin organization.

Boufarhat conveyed to TechCrunch that Hopin is focused on developing a customer-centric, diverse product suite, with StreamYard playing a crucial role in the company’s overall reputation.

Given StreamYard’s success in achieving eight-figure ARR without external investment, why pursue a sale to Hopin? Vandentop explained that the deal is in the best interests of both its current customers and its team, and that the partnership should accelerate the startup’s progress.

TechCrunch’s assessment is that Hopin has effectively doubled its size through this transaction, which represents a relatively modest cost considering StreamYard’s revenue scale in comparison to Hopin’s. However, StreamYard’s founders have exchanged a portion of their equity for Hopin shares, which, given the company’s rapid fundraising activity in 2020, could appreciate significantly in value. As Vandentop pointed out, Hopin was already growing at a faster rate than his own company.

The virtual events sector, and the evolving hybrid event landscape that Hopin initially aimed to serve before the pandemic, remains a significant area to observe in 2021 as vaccinations become widespread and safe travel resumes. The addition of StreamYard, however, may help offset any potential slowdown in the growth of virtual event software sales due to its distinct customer base.

We can now anticipate the timeline for the combined Hopin and StreamYard entity to reach $100 million in ARR. Following that milestone, discussions regarding a potential IPO are likely to begin.

1. As a point of comparison, Hopin’s valuation of approximately 10% of its current worth for StreamYard is comparable to the Facebook-WhatsApp acquisition. A deal of this magnitude signifies a substantial investment by the acquiring company; the recent Slack-Salesforce deal was slightly over 10% of the acquiring company’s peak market capitalization in December, for context.