Meetup
Template:Short description Template:For multi Template:Infobox website Meetup is an American social media platform and social networking service for hosting and organizing in-person and virtual activities, gatherings, and events for people and communities of similar interests, hobbies, and professions. The service has 60 million users.<ref name=friendships/> The company has both free tiers and paid tiers.
Headquartered in New York City, the company was founded in 2002 by Scott Heiferman and four others. It was acquired by WeWork in November 2017, AlleyCorp in March 2020, and Bending Spoons in January 2024.
History
Meetup was founded in June 2002<ref name=power>Template:Cite news</ref> by Scott Heiferman and four co-founders.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The idea for Meetup came from Heiferman meeting his neighbors in New York City for the first time after the September 11 attacks.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Heiferman was also influenced by the book Bowling Alone,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> which is about the deterioration of community in American culture.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Some initial funding for the venture was raised from friends and family, which was followed by a funding round with angel investors.<ref name=curious/>
The early version of Meetup generated revenues by charging a fee to venues in exchange for bringing Meetup users to their business. Once enough users added themselves to a group, Meetup sent the group members an email, asking them to vote on one of three sponsoring venues for the group to meet.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 2003, Meetup won the "Community Websites and Mobile Site" Webby Award.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Meetup was originally intended to focus on hobbies and interests,<ref name=power/> but it was popularized by Presidential hopeful Howard Dean in 2004.<ref name=power/> Meetup developed paid services to help the Dean campaign to meet with Meetup users. Dean also publicized Meetup groups of supporters in his speeches and on his website; at the peak of Dean's campaign, 143,000 users had joined Meetup groups for Dean supporters.<ref name=power/>
In early 2005, Meetup began to charge a fee for group organizers.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Initially, changes to the website had to be approved by two committees.<ref name=anarchy/>
In 2008, Union Square Ventures invested in the company.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 2009, Meetup started running hackathons, where employees came up with new features that would be implemented if their coworkers supported it.<ref name=anarchy>Template:Cite news</ref> In July 2009, the company was profitable and had $9 million in annualized revenues.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Meetup had 8 million users in 2010.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The website was redesigned in September 2013.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Meetup had 25.5 million users by 2013.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
In October 2013, Meetup acquired Dispatch, a struggling email collaboration company.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In March 2014, a hacker shut down Meetup with a DDoS attack, the hacker claimed to be funded by a competitor.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The hackers asked for a ransom of $300.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In February 2017, Meetup created 1,000 #resist Meetup groups with the intention of coordinating protests in response to the Trump travel ban.<ref name=leap/> This caused some supporters of Donald Trump to leave the site<ref name=leap/> or call for a boycott.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Meetup also partnered with a labor group to organize anti-Trump protests.<ref name=leap>Template:Cite news</ref>
Meetup was acquired by WeWork in November 2017 for about $156 million.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> By that time, Meetup had raised $18.3 million over 11 years.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Some former employees said there was a 10% layoff after the acquisition.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 2018, Scott Heiferman resigned as CEO and former Investopedia CEO David Siegel took his place after a convincing interview with WeWork CEO Adam Neumann.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Heiferman became Chairman of the company.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In October 2019, Meetup began to test a different pricing model in two US states, reducing the costs that must be paid by organizers of $23.99/month or $98.94/six months, but requiring users to pay a $2 fee in order to RSVP for events, leaving several users angry.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In March 2020, WeWork sold Meetup to AlleyCorp and other investors, reportedly at a substantial loss, and Kevin P. Ryan of AlleyCorp was added to the board of directors of Meetup.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In January 2024, Bending Spoons acquired Meetup.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite press release</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>