The UK-founded shared experiences platform takes home gold, ahead of finalists from 20 countries across Europe

Hopin, the UK-founded shared experiences platform that enables immersive and interactive connection from anywhere, has been crowned Europe’s top scale-up at The Tech5 Awards, hosted by TNW and Adyen at the TNW conference in Amsterdam.

Now in its eighth year, Tech5 showcases the hottest young scale-ups in Europe based on their performance, growth, and potential. It has been a launchpad for companies such as Wise, Delivery Hero, Cabify, Foodpanda, Emma Mattress and iZettle. Tech5 finalist alumni have raised over $10 billion in funding altogether over the last eight years.

The Tech5 judging panel consists of investors, influencers, and technology experts. Each year, they identify the hottest 100 companies across Europe by examining growth rate, significant company milestones, fundraising, and disruptive potential.

Hopin’s unprecedented growth in the past year was a major factor in it taking home first prize.

Founded in 2019 and launched in 2020, Hopin is a shared experiences platform redefining how people connect around the globe. Since February 2020, it has raised over $1 billion to become one of Europe’s most coveted tech unicorns. It’s now a global operation, growing from 8 to over 800 employees across 47 countries in just over a year; and is used by more than 100,000 organisations, including WeTransfer, Poshmark, and YMCA.

This year, judges were also looking for businesses that pursued a wider social impact. During lockdown, Hopin helped keep businesses running and people connected. In March 2020, it accelerated its launch for the thousands of organizations on the waitlist that needed Hopin more than ever. It further demonstrated its commitment to keep people connected with the later launch of its free subscription plan, so that anyone can create meaningful events anywhere, for free. In addition, Hopin recently announced a partnership with fundraising platform, GoFundMe, which will make it easier for companies, conference organizers, and individuals to incorporate social impact into their events and engage audiences with an in-event donation experience.

Hopin’s win is testament to the strong tech community in the UK. Other scale-up finalists in the UK included Oddbox Delivery Ltd, HungryPanda, Farewill, and Feast It.

“It’s really exciting to bring Europe’s most successful new businesses together and celebrate innovation,” Colin Neil, Managing Director Adyen UK said. “While the last two years have brought challenges, these businesses have shown true entrepreneurial spirit by reacting to a new environment and thriving. Hopin, for example, went from initial idea to globally-renowned business in just two years. It’s an impressive story of determination and focus.”

Patrick de Laive, Co-founder, The Next Web comments; “This year’s Tech5 class shows what is great about business. Despite the challenges of the past few years, European innovators can’t be slowed. There have been some truly inspiring organisations emerge and do great things and not just in a business sense – which is what Tech5 is all about. We’re here to celebrate growth, innovation and new ideas, to show the world that Europe is fertile ground for start-ups and scale-ups. Hopin is a worthy winner in an exceptionally strong year, not only demonstrating massive growth, but an ability to keep people and businesses moving during the pandemic.