Virtual events startup Airmeet raises $12 million led by Sequoia India

Airmeet, a virtual events platform, said on September 15 that it has raised $12 million in a Series A round of funding led by Sequoia Capital India and Silicon Valley-based VC firm Redpoint Ventures.

Its existing investors, including Accel India, Venture Highway and Global Founders Capital, also participated in the round.

Airmeet is capitalising on the Covid-19 pandemic which has stopped travel and made video calls and online interactions a way of life, overnight. 

Airmeet claims to have grown nearly 2,000 percent over the last quarter organically through word of mouth and social media, gaining one new customer per hour, and by July 2020 had hosted over 10,000 events on its platform.

"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 Lalit Mangal, co-founder, Airmeet, in a statement.

Airmeet was founded last year by Mangal, Manoj Kumar Singh and Vinay Kumar Jasti. 

Airmeet  plans to use the funds to hire more people, from 60 currently to 100, in the next few quarters, invest in technology, and expand its customer base globally. 

Airmeet has conducted events for institutions such as Microsoft for Startups, the Linux Foundation, and Florida International University. 

"The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated a permanent behavioural shift across many industries. With digitization of largely traditional spaces leapfrogging by years, the $800 billion 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, vice-president, Sequoia India.