In the past few months, there hasn't been a conversation I've had about remote work that didn't include a mention of Hopin, a virtual events platform last valued at $ 2.1 billion.
For a company that's only a little over a year old, Hopin has a history of wild growth. He increased his ARR from $ 0 to $ 20 million in nine months. It raised two companies to differentiate its business, including StreamYard for $ 250 million this week alone. And its latest funding round left the company's valuation at $ 2.1 billion.
Hopin's growth in the midst of Zoom's fatigue is confirming an entire group of startups focused on remote work. I see startups in the category that are in two camps: either you're betting that users want a more passive way to interact with videos or you're betting that users want a more active way to interact with videos.
This week, for example, I wrote about Rewatch, which creates internal private channels to allow startups to archive all their video conferencing meetings. The company is essentially turning live meetings into transcribed documents that employees can sift through in their spare time, moving from synchronous to asynchronous.
On the contrary, I also dealt with Teamflow, a platform that wants to give a virtual space to companies to recreate the serendipity and productivity of an office. Unlike Rewatch, Teamflow thinks employees want there to be more live moments in a distributed world.
Both formerly in-stealth companies cited Hopin as an example of the need for innovation in how we interact virtually. Rewatch and Teamflow, respectively, see Zoom as a plug-in or competitor, not inspiration.
As I mentioned in this week's podcast, it's a dynamic that I expect to reproduce even more in the coming months as we evolve from a Zoom world to an alternate Zoom world. I want to hear your opinion, even if you disagree, about which companies in the remote workspace should be on my radar. Email me at [email protected] or tweet me at @nmasc_ with companies you think should be on my remote working radar.
The power of the platform
This week, the US Capitol building was stormed by pro-Trump insurgents in a fatal uprising. Many in the tech community have blamed Jack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg for not limiting hate speech on their respective platforms, thus fueling the flames of domestic terrorism.
Here's what to know:While many see the answer as too little and too late, the events mark a crucial shift in the way regulation between government and technology works.
Etc: Reggie James, CEO and founder of Eternal, framed the issue in a tweet:
You all have to decide whether you want the government to regulate the technology or the technology to regulate the government
And you recognize when you ask for platforms to remove the current president, you are effectively breaking a silent tension of power in one direction
Snowcrash
- 🌀 (@HipCityReg) January 7, 2021
FTC vs DTC
Sticking to our government and technology theme, P&G officially halted its plan to acquire Razor startup Billie after the FTC sued over antitrust concerns.
Here's what to know: Billie was born in 2017 with the aim of fighting the "pink tax" on goods marketed to women, including razors and bubble baths. It would have been acquired by P&G after raising just $ 35 million of venture capital.
Etc: Direct-to-consumer brands are not happy. The failed deal isn't so subtly signaling to DTC brands that there is a limit to their scale, at least in the eyes of the FTC. Government regulation and limited scale could also hurt VC's interest in the category.
The optimistic news is that VC funding could fall out of favor with top D2C brands.
Many product-based brands are apparently no longer interested in chasing venture capital, playing the game of "growth at all costs" and handing partial control over to investors, despite the pandemic and uncertain circumstances that many founders are faced.
IPO, direct listing and very high valuations
My colleague Alex puts together a brilliant newsletter every week after his column, The exchange. Sign up for his in-depth analysis of the IPO market and late stage startups. In the meantime, though ...
Here's what to know:Etc: The Roblox Gambit
Around ProWellTech
Remembering Hirohide Yoshida of ProWellTech Japan (1971-2020)
Extra Crunch Live returns in 2021, connecting the founders with the tech giants and one another
A directory of the most active and engaged investors in VC: The ProWellTech List
The Mixtape Podcast: Behind the Curtain of the Theater of Diversity
For the whole week
Seen on TCElon Musk has a new title: the richest person in the world
Waymo is moving away from the term "autonomous driving," but not everyone in the industry agrees
VCs dispense political subtleties during the Capitol uprisings: "Never talk to me again"
Californian vegan egg startup Eat Just joins the Chinese fast food chain
Detroit's Ludlow Ventures is aiming for bottom four
Seen on ECRevenue-based financing: the next step for private equity and early stage investments
5 questions on the startup market of 2021
What's happening with fintech venture capital investments?
VCs discuss increased gaming infrastructure investment opportunities in 2021
The technological wave of intelligent, not slow, tutoring sessions
@EquityPod
If you are new here, welcome! Equity is ProWellTech's podcast focused on venture capital. I chat with Alex is Danny on the hottest tech news every week, from early stage startups to IPOs, and in the meantime make a few jokes. Produced by Chris, Equity is a perfect appetizer to this newsletter.
Despite your wishes for a slower and possibly quieter year, technology clearly isn't slowing down in 2021. The Equity team had a mountain of news to pass, from Twitter's very active checkbook to a Series A round. from 185 million dollars.
Here's what you'll hear about if you tune in to our full team debut episode of the year:
- Because Hopin may be the fastest growing story of this era
- How and why a Utah-based expense management company founded in 2018 is already a unicorn
- What does a series of acquisitions from Twitter and Amazon mean for the release environment?
- And a tip just for you: A ton of venture capital firms wedged into SEC filings on New Year's Eve bringing hundreds of millions of capital to potential startups.
Convinced? Good. Listen here and be sure to check out our bonus episode featuring Roblox and game news coming out Saturday.