In 2015, Johnny Boufarhat experienced an allergic reaction that left him bedridden, preventing him from going outside, socializing with people, or attending events. The frustration from the lack of contact with the outside world prompted this 27-year-old to create a video conferencing platform called Hopin in 2019.
This month, his startup raised $450 million from investors, and Boufarhat’s stake is valued at around $3.2 billion, making him one of the youngest self-made billionaires in the world according to Bloomberg’s list. Boufarhat’s wealth is largely attributed to the sudden rise in popularity of Hopin during the pandemic when lockdowns occurred and most meetings began to be held online.
At the end of 2019, Johnny released an early version of Hopin that allows users to attend meetings during events and connect with participants through automated one-on-one video meetings. Johnny initially planned to launch the online events platform in September 2020, but the pandemic forced him to accelerate the schedule by six months.
Par-Jorgen Parson, general partner at the London-based venture capital firm Northzone, a serial investor in Hopin, stated that Johnny knew what he was doing long before the pandemic and that the market only then pointed to what he had been thinking about for a long time.
Johnny is one of 'milenijalaca' who built his wealth by creating something to enhance technology. He sold shares of Hopin worth $180 million, and he retained 40 percent of his stake in Hopin after that sale. According to Bloomberg data, only 19 people under the age of 40 are among the 500 richest in the world.
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