Johnny Boufarhat (born 1 June 1994) is an Australian-born British businessman who is the founder of virtual eventing platform,

Hopin Hopin ( my, ဟိုပင်မြို့; shn, ဝဵင်းႁူဝ်ပၢင်ႇ; also Hobin) is a town in Mohnyin Township, Kachin State, in north-east Myanmar. It is situated on the main Mandalay – Myitkyina railway line, 7 ...

Early life and career

Boufarhat was born on 1 June 1994 in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Australia to a Lebanese father who was a mechanical engineer and a Syrian-born Armenian mother who was an accountant. He received his early education from the

Dubai American Academy GEMS Dubai American Academy (DAA) is a private international school in the Al Barsha suburb of Dubai, United Arab Emirates operated by GEMS Education. The school follows an American curriculum and offers International Baccalaureate programs. Cam ...

. For further studies, he went to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and studied

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...

at the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

. In January 2019, he founded Hopin. The platform gained popularity during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

as people sought alternatives to in-person events. In March 2021, the company was valued at . In August 2021, Hopin has raised $450 million through a funding round co-led by

Arena Holdings Arena Holdings, formerly known as Tiso Blackstar Group, Johnnic Communications, Avusa and Times Media Group, is a media company in South Africa. Avusa means "to rouse feelings, to revive and evoke action". The name was changed in 2007 in order to ...

and Altimeter Capital.

References

Living people 1994 births British billionaires British technology company founders British people of Lebanese descent British people of Armenian descent Alumni of the University of Manchester Businesspeople from Sydney {{UK-business-bio-stub