// STARTUP COMPARISON
Shippit (funding stagnation) vs Hopin
Shippit (funding stagnation) failed in 2022 due to Competition. Hopin failed in 2023 due to Bad Timing. Different causes, different sectors, different eras — but the same simulation outcome.
| METRIC | 🔥 Shippit (funding stagnation) | 🔥 Hopin |
|---|---|---|
| Sector | SaaS | SaaS |
| Country | Australia | USA |
| Founded | 2014 | 2019 |
| Died | 2022 | 2023 |
| Raised | A$30M | $1B |
| Peak | A$30M raised | $7.75B valuation |
| Primary Cause | Competition | Bad Timing |
// WHY EACH FAILED
🔥 Shippit (funding stagnation)
Competition
Shippit built a multi-carrier shipping management SaaS for Australian e-commerce merchants. After raising A$30M, Shopify launched its native Shopify Shipping product with carrier integrations embedded directly into the Shopify checkout. For Shopify merchants — the majority of Shippit's customer base — the native Shopify solution eliminated the need for a third-party shipping tool. Shippit restructured in 2022, refocusing on enterprise customers.
// LESSON
SaaS tools that solve problems for a dominant platform's customers are building on borrowed time. When Shopify, Salesforce, or HubSpot ships the feature natively, your SMB customer base disappears. Build platform-agnostic features or enterprise-depth that the platform won't replicate.
SaaS tools that solve problems for a dominant platform's customers are building on borrowed time. When Shopify, Salesforce, or HubSpot ships the feature natively, your SMB customer base disappears. Build platform-agnostic features or enterprise-depth that the platform won't replicate.
🔥 Hopin
Bad Timing
Hopin, a virtual events platform, raised $1B and reached $7.75B valuation during COVID when all events moved online. When in-person events returned in 2022, Hopin's core use case evaporated. The company sold its Events product to RingCentral in 2023 for approximately $15M — a 99.8% value destruction from its $7.75B peak. The founding CEO had already stepped down.
// LESSON
COVID-only use cases have COVID-only valuations. Hopin's $7.75B was pricing in a world where in-person events never returned. When building during a macro event, model the post-event scenario before setting valuation. A product that only works during a pandemic has a pandemic-length runway.
COVID-only use cases have COVID-only valuations. Hopin's $7.75B was pricing in a world where in-person events never returned. When building during a macro event, model the post-event scenario before setting valuation. A product that only works during a pandemic has a pandemic-length runway.
// EXPLORE FURTHER