Virtual Events Startups Attract Investors

The year 2020 became the year where joining a room full of people in a tightly-packed exhibition hall had us cringing in fear. It was also the same year where attending events could now be done virtually, in pajamas, straight out of bed. The rapid shift towards virtual events that shaped 2020 is helping spur massive growth in 2021, and startups that have tapped into this growth are attracting a lot of investor attention. 

• Started in 2012, Touchcast raised $55M this month in its first round of equity, led by Accenture. Its virtual events platform combines the power of AI and virtual reality into its events experience.
• High Fidelity is an online audio space provider that provides virtual social spaces mimicking a live room with different clusters of people. The San Francisco-based startup was founded in 2013 and has raised 5 rounds of funding so far. 
• WaveVR offers a virtual concert platform and has already produced concerts for John Legend and the latest Super Bowl performer, The Weeknd. The Los Angeles-based company has most recently captured the interests of Tencent, which has taken a minority stake in the company and will bring the service to its Chinese platforms through Tencent Music Entertainment Group.
• Bizzabo is a fast-growing meeting and event planning platform that quickly switched during COVID from in-person conferences to virtual events. With its quick shift, it secured a whopping $138MM Round E of funding in December led by Insight Venture Partners.
• Run the World hosts all types of digital events, from cocktail parties to global conferences. The young Series A startup was founded in 2019 but has already attracted funding from many VCs, including Andreessen Horowitz. 
• InEvent is the latest of the virtual conference platforms to raise seed capital, most recently $2MM led by Storm Ventures. The New York-based company boasts a hybrid model of virtual events as well as in-person event marketing solutions. 
• Hopin can surely be named the fastest-growing virtual events company, founded in 2019 but already reaching a valuation of $2BN+. The UK-based company only just raised its seed funding in February 2020, but then went on to raise an A Round of $40MM in June 2020 and then a whopping $125MM Series B in November 2020.