Business News

Event tech startup Hopin has frequently made headlines over the past year following several rounds of investment. The company was recently valued at $5.65 billion with an annual recurring revenue of only $70 million — but what does this actually mean?

A February “Stronger Together” joint trade show in Orlando was the first of its kind to trial an onsite testing program. Then news broke about a cluster of infections related to a much smaller testing bubble on the other coast. So how reliable is testing?

Virtual events platform Hopin has announced another $400 million in funding. This takes its funding to $565 million to date with this round valuing Hopin at a staggering $5.65 billion.

The UK’s announcement of a staggered end to lockdown restrictions triggered a 600 percent increase in the country’s Ticketmaster sales last week. Concert-goers may have renewed confidence in future events, but how dependable is the projected timeline?

Video conferencing company Zoom has reaped the benefits of mandatory work-from-home orders and cancelled events throughout 2020. It just closed out a record fiscal year with its third straight quarter of over 300 percent growth.

E​ventbrite, the ticketing and tech platform, suffered a $225 million loss in 2020 despite still enabling 3.5 million virtual and live events during the pandemic's peak months, the company reported this week.

There is a growing consensus that hybrid events will dominate in 2021, but industry best practices are still being refined. The few places currently allowing in-person events give planners the real-world models that they need to plan successful hybrid events. 

We at Skift are bringing in new leadership for building the next phase of EventMB, intensely focused on the deciphering and defining the future of events that emerges in incoming months and years from the collision of virtual and face-to-face.

This is my last post as Editor in Chief of EventMB. Join me for a look back and a look forward to the future of this incredible industry.

Event insurance has been a complicated subject since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak, with providers and planners clashing over potential payouts. Now, coverage is getting more expensive but removing protections for the most worrying risk: the pandemic.