Hubilo’s Founder Hands Off CEO Title

On Thursday, Hubilo founder Vaibhav Jain announced on LinkedIn that he has stepped down as CEO and is taking on an executive chairman role. He has been replaced by Shailesh Hegde, who was most recently vice president of product. Hegde joined the company in 2021 to lead the global product division. He was previously director of product management at BlueJeans by Verizon.

The change comes after Hubilo significantly downsized through at least three rounds of layoffs in 18 months, the last of which occurred in October. Hubilo had shifted to focus exclusively on webinars and after the layoffs, Jain shared a post on LinkedIn explaining that the virtual events market had collapsed post-Covid.

But at least two previous employees also publicly shared their discontent with leadership. Gloria Zhu, previously director of global demand & growth, questioned why Hubilo’s CEO remained in place after multiple rounds of layoffs. Rachel Moore, who had been Hubilo’s senior director of marketing, criticized Hubilo’s leadership for several management missteps. 

The Hubilo Story

Hubilo was founded in 2014 in Ahmedabad, India, as an event tech startup focused on networking. The product evolved into an event management software offering registration, mobile apps and networking solutions. During the Covid pandemic, the company pivoted to focus on virtual events, moving on to support hybrid events as the Covid pandemic subsided. 

The company attracted five rounds of funding totaling $153 million, with a Series B round in October 2021 bringing in the most significant amount, $125 million, with Alkeon Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Balderton Capital among its investors.

In February 2023, Hubilo used some of its funding to acquire the Belgium-based fielddrive specializing in on-site event technology, including check-in, badging, and access control. Fielddrive continues to operate as a separate company with no mention of the parent company Hubilo on the website.

A critical report by Inc42 in November pointed to heavy losses in the previous financial year, with an employee benefits expense line item being the biggest culprit.

Jain will remain connected to the company in his new role. 

“I have been running Hubilo since some time and it will be one of the great privileges of my life. I will remain involved with the company as executive chairman and I will be there to support Shailesh and the broader team,” said Jain on LinkedIn.

Hubilo did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Skift Meetings.