Agora shares soar as investors try to jump on Clubhouse app growth

The Clubhouse invite-only audio social media app has exploded since its launch in 2020 and retail investors are taking note.

Investors could play on the popularity of the private app by buying shares in Agora, which may have powered the app’s live streaming audio features, and Clubhouse Media Group, which is not connected to the app. social media app but has a similar name. Agora shares jumped more than 44% on Monday to an all-time high of $ 81.48 per share. Clubhouse Media climbed over 116% to a high of $ 17.99 apiece.

Clubhouse and Agora spokespersons did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation as to whether the app actually uses Agora’s software.

Clubhouse, the social media app, is similar to a live, unfiltered podcast. You log into the app and can access different “rooms” where live chats take place around various topics. The app is still in its infancy and most of the talk is about tech, entrepreneurship, and other Silicon Valley issues.

The company, valued at $ 1 billion, has seen strong user growth since its inception, now at over 2 million. He recently saw an increase in activity early Monday ET, when Tesla CEO Elon Musk joined the platform to discuss a range of topics.

Musk’s arrival could likely be the cause of Monday’s stock surge in what some believe to be associated companies, given that Musk has a strong tradition of mentioning a publicly traded company and sending it off. actions. Over the past week, Musk has nodded at Etsy, CD Projekt, GameStop, and even the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, pushing prices higher.

Now people want to monetize the growth of Clubhouse.

“It’s not widely known, but the application would have been built on Agora’s application program interface (API) within a week. The ticker is also an API. Agora has a usage-based rather than subscription-based model, so as the minutes increase they make more money. If the reports are true, this seems like a low-key way to play the growth of Clubhouse, ”one user posted last week on Reddit’s Wall Street Bets forum, which is behind the recent GameStop mania.

At the same time, Clubhouse Media is jumping. The stock has increased more than six times a year to date. It’s unclear if investors are investing in the stock because they think it’s the social media company, or if they’re buying the stock assuming others will believe it’s the social media app. .

A similar confusion occurred recently in a confusion between Signal, the encrypted messaging app, and Signal Advance. Before that, investors confused Zoom Video Communications with Zoom Technologies.

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