Out With the Old, In With the New

Today's featured startup is redefining virtual team building.

Mar 04, 2025

Confetti is a company that specializes in virtual corporate team-building events.

This service is perfect for companies with remote or hybrid work models, as regular team activities help maintain an emotional connection between employees and the company.

However, large companies with in-office teams also use Confetti. Organizing offline events for many employees is time-consuming and costly, whereas virtual events provide a more efficient and affordable alternative for keeping employees engaged.

Events don’t have to be company-wide. Teams of various sizes can participate, with options ranging from small groups of 4–20 people to large-scale events for up to 500 attendees. Most activities last between 30 and 60 minutes.

The event catalog covers a wide range of themes, including trivia, meditation, cooking classes, yoga, drawing lessons, cultural and history talks, origami, candle-making, and many other engaging activities.

Companies can host events on special occasions, integrate them into employee onboarding programs, or incorporate them into professional development initiatives.

To book an event, companies select an activity from the catalog and specify the number of participants. Then, they customize the experience by selecting specific details, such as trivia topics or cooking and art projects.

Pricing varies based on the event type, participant count, and customization options. Once the details are finalized, companies choose a date and submit their booking. Confetti takes care of the rest, including sending invitations and reminders to attendees.

Confetti has also introduced subscription plans for recurring events and bulk prepayments, which lower per-event costs for customers while ensuring more predictable revenue for the startup.

So far, 8,000+companies have used Confetti’s services to host 33,000 virtual events with over 1 million participants.

In November 2022, Confetti’s founder stated the company had 4,000 clients. By the end of 2023, that number had doubled. The startup currently reports an annual revenue run rate of $12 million, with expectations to grow to $15–20 million by year-end.

Confetti first caught my attention in mid-2021. Recently, it secured $16 million in new funding, bringing its total investment to $22.3 million.

What's the Gist?

The virtual corporate events industry is seeing strong growth, as evidenced by multiple startups securing investment.

The trend follows the same pattern as virtual business meetings. Before the pandemic, in-person meetings were considered essential for key negotiations and presentations. During lockdowns, companies had no choice but to adapt to online meetings—and many discovered that virtual meetings saved time and worked just fine. The pandemic ended, but the habit of meeting online stuck around.

Confetti originally focused on offline team-building events. When the pandemic hit, it had to pivot to survive and began hosting online events. Companies embraced the format, and even after lockdowns ended, demand for virtual team-building remained high.

Virtual events proved to be faster, cheaper, and more frequent than traditional in-person events.

Before the pandemic, Confetti had raised $2.25 million. Since then, it has secured ten times that amount. The shift to online events turned out to be a winning move at the right time.

This highlights a key lesson: explosive growth happens when startups ride the wave of major shifts in the market, technology, or consumer behavior.

The most important skill for a startup is identifying these shifts early and adapting quickly. Instead of trying to "change the world" with a single idea, it's often more effective to change along with the world.

Another crucial factor in Confetti’s success was its transition from a standard marketplace model to a "managed marketplace." Initially, it simply connected companies with third-party event providers and left execution up to them.

Now, Confetti ensures event quality by offering corporate support throughout the process and carefully selecting its partners, prioritizing quality over quantity.

Key Takeaways

A recent discussion in one of the online startup communities I frequent touched on a common challenge for service marketplaces: customers often bypass the platform after their first transaction, directly hiring the provider they originally found there.

If a marketplace is just a directory of service providers, this is a real risk. Why should customers keep paying the platform if they always work with the same provider?

The only way to ensure continued value is by guaranteeing results. A successful managed marketplace doesn’t just list providers—it ensures that services are delivered on time, within budget, and at the expected quality level. It steps in to replace providers if needed, assists with project planning, and resolves any issues that arise.

One example of this model is Sweeten, a startup that helps customers manage home renovation projects by coordinating contractors. It has raised $20.7 million in funding.

The path forward? More managed marketplaces across different service industries.

The strategy is clear: identify industries where customers still rely on basic listings or review-based marketplaces, and create a managed alternative. Start by recruiting service providers from existing platforms and market your solution by emphasizing that, unlike traditional marketplaces, you guarantee results.

So, what industry do you want to disrupt by building a managed marketplace?

Company info:

Confetti

Website: withconfetti.com
Last funding round: $16 million, 26.03.2024
Total funds raised: $22.3 million after 6 rounds