Audio-only social media platform Clubhouse closes Series C funding, eyes global expansion - Android

Clubhouse, the invitation-only social app that has taken the iOS world by storm thanks to its weirdly enticing offering. If you would have told me that a social media app that allows people to participate in voice chats exclusively would take up, I wouldn’t have believed you. However, Clubhouse has taken the world by storm, and is generating massive hype. Back by this, the company has now closed up its Series C fund-raising round, barely three months after it closed its Series B financial round.

The most important investors in the financial round happen to be giants Elad Gil, Tiger Global, and DST Global. The company claims that the newest set of investments will help it streamline its process of “building a global community”, by investing in features to promote localization and accessibility, as well as by supporting international growth.

The platform, which conventionally provides a platform where people can carry out audio conversations with up to 5,000 other users, in a format which resembles rooms that can only be entered via invitation, has also launched many other features. This  includes the Payments feature, which is currently in its beta phase, and is aimed at helping content creators monetize their material, which they may be sharing through these “rooms”. Even though the app is only available for iOS as of now, the Android version of the same has been developed, and is awaiting its launch. Clubhouse is also eyeing the launch of a brand new feature, known as the Creator First accelerator, which will help creators get their hands on all the creative and developmental material and equipment that they may need to produce quality content, and get paid, especially through a stipend that’s paid monthly.

It also aims at more focused app development and discovery, to help users find better rooms, and enhance their experience. It also looks to make its servers more robust to support the ever-growing features it plans on rolling out in the coming months, especially since its “growth has outpaced the early discovery algorithms its small team originally built,” in the company’s own words.

With all these goals in mind, it’s no surprise that Clubhouse is raising money at the pace that it is.

Owing to the latest round of financing, the investor base upon which Clubhouse now stands is supported by 200 creators, funds, and angels, some of which happen to belong to Clubhouse Community, while others come from many different walks of life, be it professional comedians, musicians, or even athletes, as well as institutional investors. The company says that the strength of its team has quadrupled in the three and half months since the start of this year alone.

The latest round of funding, a.k.a the Series C round, too, was led by Andrew Chen at a16z, who also happens to be the person behind the Series A and Series B rounds. Speaking of the Series B round, it occurred back in January this year, and ended up with getting the total tally of investors backing Clubhouse, to 180. With the newfound finances, the company looks forward to having many more people on board through a number of job openings, and further developing the research and community health teams.

On the social front, Clubhouse seems to be doing a fantastic job at bring people from all of life and all cultures, closer. In fact, the platform has become home to all sorts of events, from impromptu fundraisers for the #stopasianhate campaign, to artwork auctions by Edward Snowden. What remains to be seen is whether it continues with the fast pace of growth.