Four Startups Helping You Network in a Virtual World

A new spate of startups is building video communication and virtual event software for the coronavirus era. Backed by venture capital funding and undeterred by Zoom’s dominance, leaders of these nascent firms say they offer more-effective ways to meet new people, host events and communicate with colleagues—tools that will outlast Covid-19.

In our latest installment of Startups to Watch, we profile four of these companies. They include two companies that are trying to capture a slice of the $1 trillion event industry with software geared for virtual events. One firm is trying to add a layer of creativity to daily video calls and another is selling tools to help workers network in this period of social isolation. On the heels of new VC financings, they’re trying to accommodate a massive onslaught of users.

“The product demand is unimaginable,” Hopin CEO Johnny Boufarhat said in an interview.