If you’ve been attending virtual events you have most likely used Hopin at some point in the last year, or even prior to the pandemic. Jamstack Conf was one of the conferences I attended in 2020 on the Hopin platform. They describe themselves as “a virtual venue built for connecting people, and flexible to fit any kind of event.” The big announcement is that they have acquired StreamYard. StreamYard on the other hand is a really easy to use streaming production studio. Big Orange Heart has been using this for WordPress London Meetups and customized the experience like crazy. In fact it will be a critical component of WordFest. Back to the announcement.

From the official announcement, Welcome, StreamYard: “Both Hopin and StreamYard grew exponentially in 2020. StreamYard’s story is fascinating — two engineers grew a software company to $12 million, all on their own. In 2020, they built out their team to 19 and that number expanded to over $30 million. All bootstrapped. Similarly, Hopin, backed by great investors, scaled from zero revenue and six employees to $30 million and 300 employees.” Obviously the pandemic has had a huge impact on their businesses. The consolidation makes sense to be better prepared for when in-person events get going again.