Sequoia and Redpoint Lead $12 Mn Funding in Virtual Events Hosting Platform Airmeet The series A funding round led by Sequoia Capital India and Redpoint Ventures also saw participation from existing investors Accel India, Venture Highway and Global Founders Capital (GFC) along with Gokul Rajaram, Caviar Lead at Doordash

Homegrown online events hosting platform Airmeet has raised USD 12 million in Series A funding round led by Sequoia Capital India and US-based VC firm Redpoint Ventures, focused on investments in seed, early and growth-stage companies.

Existing investors Accel India, Venture Highway and Global Founders Capital (GFC) along with Gokul Rajaram, Caviar Lead at Doordash, also participated in the round.

Airmeet was founded in 2019 by IIT alumni Lalit Mangal, also former founder of CommonFloor, Manoj Kumar Singh and Vinay Kumar Jasti, both of whom are former executives of CommonFloor. Airmeet lets event organizers to arrange a wide variety of events and meetups, such as trade shows, job fairs and virtual team cafes, conventions and industry summits on its platform.

Propelled by the Covid-19 pandemic, Airmeet claims to have grown nearly 2000 per cent over the last quarter, purely organically through word of mouth and social media, gaining one new customer per hour. Till July 2020, it has hosted over 10,000 events on its platform, with communities like Microsoft for Startups, the Linux Foundation and major educational institutions like the Florida International University using the platform for virtual events.

"Our mission is to make virtual events so effective and engaging that it should appear archaic to organise an on-ground event. We are already seeing an irreversible behaviour change among event organisers and an exponential rise in, what we call, 'Digitally native events," said Mangal.

Airmeet is a remote-first company with its team present across six countries.

With the fresh capital, Airmeet plans to accelerate technology development, grow its current team of 60 to 100 and expand its customer-base globally. The company said in the coming year, it aims to achieve the milestone of powering over 1,000 events per day.

"With digitization of largely traditional spaces leapfrogging by years, the $800+ Bn global offline events space is up for grabs. There is massive potential for players who drive the industry's transition towards online-events", said Abhishek Mohan, VP, Sequoia Capital India.

"Airmeet's mission is to create a global platform to enable millions of community managers and event organizers across the world to engage with and expand their audience. And with Lalit and team's focus, execution and innovative thinking, they are strongly placed to achieve their goal," Mohan added.

Unlike Zoom and Skype, which mainly offer video conferencing and webinar options, Airmeet is an "all-in-one' platform with offerings that include a ballroom-style "social lounge' consisting of virtual tables and a "speed networking' lobby where participants can meet and make connections.

"Airmeet's platform creates engaging digital experiences that emphasize interactivity. From the virtual tables to networking lounges to real-time audience reactions, Airmeet mirrors the community spirit of an in-person event. We are thrilled to be a part of the journey and very excited for what's to come," said Astasia Myers, investor at Redpoint.

Prior to the latest round, the company had raised USD 3 million from Accel Partners and others in March this year. Its total funding so far stands at over USD 15 million.