Welcome to the Tech Mem Ride Home for Monday, January 25th, 2021. I'm Brian McCullough.

Today, Clubhouse has become a unicorn in what nine months

Google is making its facilities available as vaccine centers

while its workers are union organizing globally.

Apple wants you to get up and walk,

and why the SPAC frenzy could potentially

transform the startup ecosystem

over the coming months.

Here's what you miss today in the world of tech.

I'd like to think that this news is a direct result of the fact that I spoke on stage at Josh Constein's weekly press club room on clubhouse on

Thursday night. Paul and the gang saw how successful that went and were like

quick pull the trigger on this for sure. I'm joking of course, but in a blog post yesterday, Clubhouse announced

a new funding round led by A16Z. Word on the street is that it's at a $1 billion valuation, which if you'll recall six months ago people were saying it was crazy that A16Z led a $100 million valuation.

Also Clubhouse says it will soon begin work on an

Android version of the app and it is actively beginning tests around paying

creators or at least allowing creators to charge and earn, quoting Tech Crunch.

The plans around monetization routes for creators appear to be relatively open-ended at this point,

with clubhouse saying it'll be launching first tests around each of the three areas it mentions.

Tipping tickets and subscriptions over the next few months.

It sounds like these could be similar to something like a Patreon built right into the platform.

Tickets are a unique option that would go well

with Clubhouse's more formal roundtable discussions

...