Join us as we hear from Marian Bossard of the Toy Association on how it cleverly kept those toy orders coming, despite the pandemic. And Lawrence Coburn of Twine.nyc where powerful conversations happen every day.

The road to hybrid events is paved with good intentions, some of those intentions from online platforms getting ready for that moment when we meet again. It’s been a busy month. HopIn’s 2021 Kickoff event introduced a mobile app to be used as a second screen companion. It launches on iOs and Android this month and promises to address FOMO by letting you track IRL what you’re missing online. Even during in-person events, you’ll be able to network and see what’s happening elsewhere. The company also announced its acquisition of StreamYard, a welcome addition because of its live-streaming prowess. With $155 million in funding, Reuters reported that the company’s value surged to $2bn and The Information labeled it “the fastest software start-up unicorn in history". Meanwhile, I attended the KickOff and honest, CEO Johnny Boufarhat could have used a few of his new dollars on better background and lighting.

TouchCast, a New York City-based firm that specializes in creating “digital twins” of your physical event, landed a cool $55 million dollar investment. I’ve been watching this company since 2013 when its mission was to help companies create better videoconferencing with easy-to-use tools, green-screens, and heavy use of video. They’ve amped up that original vision with image recognition, some nifty video snipping, and a bunch of creative widgets like transcription, to make online meetings look a lot more like TV productions.

Keeping Score on Who’s Getting Investments? 

Bizzabo $138 million | Run the World  $15 million | Airmeet $12 million
Wonder $11 million | Hubilo $4.5 million

Spring is around the corner but you’re going to need to weigh buying biz casual duds for a return to the office versus shelling out for some new WFH gear.

Zoom for Home DTEN, a company that’s known for its conference room gear, announced a new piece of hardware that’s called Zoom for Home. It’s a 27-inch monitor with three built-in wide-angle cameras, an 8-microphone array, and a touch screen display. Good for presentations, whiteboarding and annotation. Price: $599

Poly Studio P21 Personal Meeting Display A 21-inch monitor with a built in webcam, microphone, integrated stereo speakers and ambient lights. Price: $800