Clubhouse

Clubhouse is a social audio app for iOS and Android, built by Alpha Exploration Co., in which people gather in live, audio-only "rooms" as listeners or speakers. Paul Davison, who earlier built the location app Highlight, and Rohan Seth started working together in the fall of 2019. After iterating in audio under the working name Talkshow, they launched Clubhouse in March 2020 as an invite-only iPhone app. The company is based in San Francisco. Android followed in May 2021, and the invitation system was dropped in July 2021.

Early money came from angel investors including Ryan Hoover, Balaji Srinivasan and James Beshara, at a reported valuation of about $100 million. Andrew Chen of Andreessen Horowitz led a Series A of about $12 million in May 2020. In a January 24, 2021 post, the founders announced a new round, again led by Chen at a16z, and said Clubhouse had more than 180 investors. CNBC reported that round at a $1 billion valuation. In April 2021 the company closed a Series C, also led by Chen, with DST Global, Tiger Global and Elad Gil participating. Reuters, citing a source, put the valuation at $4 billion. The company said its investor base then spanned nearly 200 creators, angels and funds. Amounts for the Series B and C were not disclosed.

Usage peaked during the pandemic. The founders said two million people used the app in the week before January 24, 2021, and Reuters later cited 10 million weekly active users. Bloomberg reported in April 2021 that Twitter had discussed buying the company at about a $4 billion valuation, but no deal followed. Clubhouse launched creator payments with Stripe and the Creator First accelerator. Growth then stalled as lockdowns ended. In April 2023 the company cut about half its staff to "reset," saying it still had years of runway and was working on a new version of the product. It remains private and its app is still offered.

Clubhouse is a compressed example of pandemic-era consumer pricing. Andreessen Horowitz entered at the Series A, about two months after launch, and led three priced rounds in under a year as the reported valuation went from about $100 million to $4 billion. Late-stage growth investors such as DST Global and Tiger Global came in at the peak, alongside a long list of angels and creators. No liquidity event has been reported, and the 2023 layoffs showed how far usage had fallen from the level that supported the 2021 price.