Hopin cuts staff to ‘solve duplications’

By Mike Fletcher.Hopin has responded to Slack messages leaked to TechCrunch in which CEO Johnny Boufarhat discusses the platform’s reorganisation and staff redundancies.

The messages, in which Boufarhat states that layoffs have been made to ‘solve overlaps and duplications’ in order to ensure that Hopin is ‘more efficient while ensuring we have the required financial discipline and organisational rigour’, confirmed Dutch blogger Gergely Orosz’s earlier scoop that redundancies were underway at the unicorn.

In a statement to TechCrunch, Hopin said: “Following unprecedented growth and several acquisitions, we are reorganising to align with our goals for greater efficiency and sustainable growth. It’s not easy to part ways with teammates, and we’re deeply grateful for the impact they’ve had while at Hopin.”

A Hopin spokesperson also confirmed that employees impacted by Hopin’s layoffs will receive three months of compensation, health benefits and their laptops. The company is using RiseSmart, a recruitment agency, to help them with job hunting.

UK-based Hopin was named Europe’s fastest-growing start-up ever in 2021 by Sifted. In just two years the virtual events platform grew its valuation to a staggering $7.75bn after raising more than $1bn, including $450m in a Series D funding round last August.

In March 2021, Hopin acquired video hosting service Streamable and video technology company jamm.

At the end of 2020, Hopin had bought live streaming startup, StreamYard. As a result, the platform has scaled from six to 1,150 employees since the beginning of 2020. According to TechCrunch, 138 full-time employees, or 12% of staff have been impacted by the redundancy round.