Most of us who produce events were happy to see the end of the pandemic-driven, everything-is-virtual era. And we were happy to resume producing live events. The ones that involve live speakers on actual stages talking to rooms full of real people. 

Same for those who attend events to learn, network, and fill their business development pipelines (or all of the above).

One group that probably didn’t share this enthusiasm for the return of IRL events is the management of Hopin. This virtual event company launched in 2019 and was catapulted by the pandemic to a peak $8 billion valuation. Today, we learned it has sold off “select assets” to RingCentral. 

Specifically, RingCentral is acquiring Hopin’s “online audience engagement technology, including its flagship Events platform and Session product.” Terms were not disclosed. 

Last year, Hopin went through three rounds of layoffs (cutting its staff roughly by half) in the hopes of getting lean, mean, and cash flow positive by this year. And of course, the company attempted a pivot away from being exclusively focused on virtual events into a multiproduct business doing everything from live streaming to podcasting 

Clearly, all the cutting and the pivot weren’t enough.

Not Even Just as Good

Let’s be clear. Virtual events still happen. For example, the CX platform Birdeye just announced that it will hold its first user conference in September. And this event will be virtual. I see other virtual events being promoted all the time on LinkedIn. But these are being promoted alongside a much larger number of in-person or hybrid events. 

Virtual events do still offer some advantages. Like cost savings. If you can speak to an important audience without getting on a plane and flying halfway around the world. That is attractive. I can attest that speaker recruitment is easier for virtual than it is for IRL events. 

Yet virtual events never offered a just-as-good-if-not-better alternative to in-person events. In real life, you can hug old friends. Not to mention look prospects in the eye and hang out at the hotel bar until 3 am. Attempts to replicate any of these in a virtual setting failed. Maybe the metaverse arrived just a little too late. 

The truth is, people missed the IRL experience. And once Covid faded away as a crisis, people were ready to get back on planes. 

The return to normal revealed that producing virtual events is a pretty good business when no one is allowed to congregate in large groups. And it is a pretty lousy one when they are. 

What Did RingCentral Buy?

So one obvious question is, if virtual events are dead (not really my point), why is RingCentral scooping up the pieces of Hopin?

As a communications platform offering virtual telecommunications solutions to businesses, including video conferencing, beefing up its multimedia toolkit could make sense at the right price. And Hopin, which raised $1 billion in 2019, at one point had the resources to build a pretty powerful tech stack. It is worth noting that one of the items RingCentral acquired is Session, which is the new solution Hopin launched as part of its pivot. 

“We see an opportunity to redefine how video communication is experienced. This acquisition is a key next step in our journey to deliver more personalized and engaging video meetings and events for customers,” said Vlad Shmunis, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of RingCentral. 

“We expect the technology and outstanding talent from Hopin will accelerate our ability to achieve these goals and help us differentiate our entire video portfolio.”

Ring notes in its announcement that the Hopin tech will enable Ring to enhance its video conferencing and webinar products to “include hosting and management of virtual and hybrid events, all at competitive pricing.”