Clubhouse, a San Francisco-based social audio network, has raised approximately $ 100 million led by existing investor Andreessen Horowitz at a post-write-down valuation of $ 1 billion, Axios has learned. The deal was announced publicly, but the details of the dollar were not.
Why it matters: The startup says it had two million users last week, despite launching less than a year ago and keeping a close eye on new invitations until recently. It now also plans to launch a creator monetization program, which could both increase usage and open Clubhouse’s own revenue stream.
Details: Clubhouse says it now has “more than 180 investors.” That sounds like hell for the startup cap table, but it is said that most of those backers fit a single line through an SPV at no cost.
It comes down to: This is a very high risk / high reward bet.
- The risk is that the audio boom is artificially blown up by the stay-at-home pandemic, and Andreessen Horowitz’s confidence is colored by some of his partners’ own addictions to the use of Clubhouse.
- The reward is that this is the next evolution of social networks, and that Andreessen Horowitz just advanced other investors like Sequoia Capital once with WhatsApp.