Secret Clubhouse Funding Round Would Value Company At $4 Billion

Clubhouse, the increasingly popular audio-based social media app, has closed a new Series C round, though it didn’t say how much it raised, Reuters writes.

But a source familiar with the company said the new financing would put the company in the $4 billion valuation range.

According to Clubhouse, the new round of financing was led by Andrew Chen of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz with major investors like DST Global, Tiger Global and Elad Gil.

Clubhouse is only a year old, and bases its platform on invite-only audio discussions, which are sometimes led by popular media figures. The app has seen some appearances from luminary figures including Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.

The app recently reported 10 million weekly users and has shown how audio-based apps can succeed, particularly during the pandemic when many people are stuck at home.

The app’s popularity spurred Twitter to make an offer for a takeover for $4 billion. But those discussions didn’t end up going forward.

That incident spurred Clubhouse to begin to consider lifting its own valuation to that same amount.

The success of Clubhouse has also persuaded other companies, including Facebook, LinkedIn and Slack Technologies, looking to put together their own versions of the app. And Twitter put together its own version, entitled Spaces, which came out late in 2020. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was reportedly bullish about the possibilities for audio as a way to do social media. The company has previously bet on live content as a way to go through with partnership deals and acquisitions.

If Clubhouse gets to its $4 billion valuation goal, it would represent a quadrupling of its value from January. But terms of the round could change.

Clubhouse is a project of Alpha Exploration Co., and was started by Paul Davison and Rohan Seth. One of the major backers has been Andreessen Horowitz.