At Hopin, our purpose will always be to help make the world feel smaller and more connected, and watching our team move together towards that collective goal has been an inspiring journey. One of my key takeaways from the last two years has been to remain flexible in the face of new challenges. I encourage the next generation of entrepreneurs to always stay true to their core mission and values while allowing for the flexibility to be nimble so they can always adjust to the rapidly-changing world we live in
Johnny Boufarhat, the founder and CEO of Hopin
01 July 2021
Hopin founder encourages the next generation of entrepreneurs at King's Digital Demo Day
Over 250 investors, students and staff attended the King’s Entrepreneurship Institute’s annual Demo Day where 15 innovative start-ups showcase their ideas to potential investors. The businesses provide entrepreneurial answers to some of the world’s most pressing challenges from a range of disciplinary backgrounds.
This year’s keynote speech was given by Johnny Boufarhat, the founder and CEO of Hopin, an all-in-one event management platform which has become the rising star of online events software and was used to host the Digital Demo Day. Hopin has recently raised $400 million series in its series C funding round and completed acquisitions of several online events companies in pursuit of its goal of becoming a multi-product company shaping online events and remote collaboration.
The high-potential early stage ventures who took part in the day have been hand-picked from the King’s20 Accelerator programme and tackle issues facing the health industry, sustainability and technology and include:
SoJo - Connects customers to local seamster businesses through their app and bicycle delivery service so that people can get their clothes altered or repaired with a few simple clicks.
GrandNanny - Connecting parents with safe, local older people for childcare.
Banana Scoops - Banana-based, vegan ice cream made from natural and plant-based ingredients.
Malebox - The first comprehensive at-home male fertility testing service.
Virtuoso - Provides medical students with learning to practice medicine, with interactive videos, clinical scenarios and chatbots.
Demo Day is all about showcasing the best early-stage talent in a format that works for investors. Putting up-and-coming talent and ideas onto the radar of the investment community is vitally important for both parties and the potential impact that can result, later down the line, is monumental. Entrepreneurial people solve problems – today is all about shinning a spot light on some of the best at King’s.
Julie Devonshire, Director of King’s Entrepreneurship Institute
King's20 Accelerator is the Entrepreneurship Institute’s flagship programme supporting the 20 brightest and highest potential ventures from across the King’s to take their ideas and ventures the next level. The programme is open to all King's students, staff and alumni and aims to be the first university accelerator to reach and maintain gender parity by 2021.
The inclusive program focuses heavily on the entrepreneur with 91% of its entrepreneurs having improved their leadership skills during their time with the accelerator. It also offers 12 months of office space at the historic Bush House, an average of 50 expert mentorship sessions per team, £125,000 of grants to support scaling and more.
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Director, Entrepreneurship Institute