In a Nutshell
- New-York based Orbiit, an AI-powered matching company has been acquired by Hivebrite, the all-in-one community management and engagement platform.
- Orbiit is part of the portfolio investments of the Bulgarian fund LAUNCHub Ventures.
Get the Details
Founded by Bilyana Freye (CEO), who has spent half of her life in Bulgaria, and Luuk Derksen (CTO), Orbiit is a B2B networking platform. They met in New York, where they were inspired to create a technology that would revolutionize how people connect.
Orbiit streamlines the process of arranging one-on-one or small group interactions on a large scale, managing all aspects including communication, matching, scheduling, feedback gathering, and analytics.
Orbiit’s clients include Sequoia Capital, Atlassian, and the London School of Economics.
The idea behind the acquisition is to deploy Orbiit’s technology into Hivebrite’s offering. This will be utilized by enabling AI-powered matching to pair members with compatible profiles.
In 2021, Orbiit raised a $2.7M (€2.7M) round in which Sofia-based LAUNCHub Ventures participated. The round was led by the early-stage fund Bread and Butter Ventures and joined by High Alpha Capital and Company Ventures, as well as the previous angel and venture investors Founders Fund, Acceleprise and Houghton Street Ventures.
Why It Matters
Hivebrite offers a wide range of tools and features designed to enhance community interaction and foster connections.
This acquisition marks a pivotal advancement in community technology alongside another milestone, a new round of funding totaling $8M. This latest round of funding follows a $37 million Series B announced in 2023. The additional capital will drive further innovation in Hivebrite’s platform and enhance customer support for its users globally.
According to their data, Hivebrite is used by organizations such as Santander, Euronext, the Obama Foundation, the U.S. Naval Academy, and CERN use Hivebrite to build private, branded communities for knowledge sharing and networking.
In Their Own Words
“The acquisition of Orbiit marks an exciting milestone in our journey, significantly strengthening Hivebrite’s AI capabilities in a meaningful and impactful way. I love the analogy that one of our customers made recently: Hivebrite brings the home with its community platform, and Orbiit brings the soul with its AI-matching technology. It’s a match made in heaven,” said Jean Hamon, CEO of Hivebrite.
“We are thrilled to join forces with Hivebrite to transform community engagement,” said Bilyana Freye, Co-Founder and CEO of Orbiit.
“This acquisition is a natural evolution from our successful collaborations with mutual clients, where we’ve seen firsthand the incredible impact we can achieve together. At Orbiit, our mission has always been to create meaningful connections at scale, and by combining Hivebrite’s product breadth with Orbiit’s depth of expertise in community matching, we can now offer the most powerful community platform on the market,” she added.
