[Funding alert] Virtual events platform Airmeet raises $35M

Virtual event and engagement platform Airmeet has announced raising $35 million in a Series B round of funding from Prosus Ventures, Sistema Asia Capital , RingCentral Ventures, KDDI Open Innovation Fund, DG Daiwa Ventures, and consultancy firm Nexxus Global. Returning investors Sequoia Capital India and Accel India also participated in the round. 

The startup will utilise the funds for expanding its footprint in the global marketplace and in research and development functions. It will also use the equity capital for scaling its go-to-market function and in strategic activities for brand visibility in the international market, said a statement issued by the company.

Airmeet was founded in August 2019 by CommonFloor Co-founder Lalit Mangal, and former executives Manoj Singh and Vinay Jaasti.

Airmeet last raised $12 million in a Series A round of funding led by Sequoia Capital in September 2020. Prior to that, it had raised $3 million in March led by Accel India. 

At present, the startup offers online conference and social webinar format for virtual events targeted at business-to-business (B2B) clients. 

“Currently, most of our customers come to us for their marquee events where they want a bespoke experience with more customisable solutions. The second bucket of use cases why our customers like us is for increasing engagement on their webinar,” Lalit Mangal, Co-founder and CEO of Airmeet told YourStory. 

He added that Airmeet will be focused on building a Prospect Engagement Cloud for B2B marketers. 

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“B2B mostly engage folks in their active pipeline, which is 20 percent of the addressable market. Marketers now know that prospects are getting self-educated, through reviews, communities, etc. Close to 70 percent of B2B sales happen through the inquiries that land on their page, and they do not know where these come from. We are trying to systemise prospect engagement for modern marketers,” said Lalit.

The startup has seen 24X growth in recurring revenues since September 2020 and claims to be growing at 30 percent month-on-month in terms of revenues. Its customers include the likes of Flipkart, Fifth Element Group, BMF Media, Unifrog Education, University College London, among others. 

“The pandemic has brought in a marked shift in the way we work and the way we interact with customers, employees, and other stakeholders. This shift has further accelerated the adoption of agile and virtual solutions to cater to business needs. We are excited to partner with Airmeet as they support the transformation and evolution of the enterprise SAAS marketing space and deliver an outstanding audience experience through a uniquely customer-centric approach,” said Ashutosh Sharma, Head of Investments at Prosus Ventures in India.

Airmeet competes with the likes of Hubilo and Zuddl , which operate in the virtual events space and have seen increased investor interest post the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.