Meetup, The Social Networking Platform, Spins Off From Wework

If you did not know, then Meetup is a social networking platform that is designed to connect people with other people with shared interests. For example, if you like to experiment while cooking something new, you could set up a group and send invites. Also, people can visit the Meetup website and check the groups formed in their locality and join them as per their interest. The members would be informed about the next meeting via notifications, and this way, an organized group of people sharing common interests can be assembled.

WeWork bought a unique concept, featured by Meetup application in 2017 for $156 million and after a couple of years of managing the meetup process; it is now being sold to AlleyCorp and other private investors for an unknown sum. This information was put out by the company via a press release.

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Meetup has an astonishing 49 million registered users with organizers amounting to be more than 200,000 and hosts at least 15000 events every day. Despite these numbers, WeWork claimed that Meetup had been struggling to meet with the company’s expectations. Last year, in November, the company had around 10% layoffs and introduced other cost-cutting measures.

It is important to note that after the recent Coronavirus Pandemic has implicated social distancing as a preventive measure, it has resulted in a massive decrease in the numbers of Meetup. The Meetup website has itself been displaying the COVID-19 advisory of hosting all the events online and discouraging people from meeting in person.

In the Press Release, WeWorks has disclosed few more details about the buyers revealing that the acquisition of Meetup includes Kevin Ryan’s AllenCorp, some private funds by investors and other accomplished technology executives. The current CEO of Meetup, David Siegel, will remain and lead the company with business as usual. The only significant change will see Kevin Ryan joining the board as the chairman. There will be no change in the functioning of the Meetup groups and Meetup Pro groups which act as a business solution for some big clients, including Microsoft, Google, Adobe, IBM, Twitter, and others.

The Future for Meetup is not very clear as there may be new policies and terms of use introduced once the new owners take charge. The COVID 19 issue will eventually get over, and people will be able to meet in person and form groups and communities. But while the Pandemic is still alarming, Meetup has to divert all its resources and energies to focus on supporting groups online-only, something which Facebook Groups have been successfully doing in the past.

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