Discord, a social chat app popular with the video gaming community, met with investment bankers in recent weeks to discuss the preparations for this year's initial public offering.
The IPOs of well-known tech companies can provide a much-needed shock to private companies considering public listings. Market volatility, caused by an uncertain economy, is slowly starting the IPO market this year, along with a strong evaluation of private companies.
Discord was last valued in 2021 by private investors at around $15 billion.
Those who requested anonymity because the conversation was secret warned that the consultation was still exploratory and that the IPO plan remains changed.
A Discord spokesman said Wednesday: Our focus remains on building a strong and sustainable business by providing the best possible experience for our users. ”
Other companies are preparing to go public despite the rising turbulence in financial markets. CoreWeave, a provider of cloud computing services for artificial intelligence, applied for an IPO this week. In its application, CoreWeave said it had about $1.9 billion in revenue and a net loss of $863 million last year.
Discord was founded by two high-tech workers Jason Citron and Stanislav Vishnevskiy, who originally gathered to build Video Games Studio. After releasing their first title, the two hit the idea of Discord after realising it was difficult to communicate online while playing the game. In May 2015, we released the first version of Discord on desktop computers and smartphones.
Gamers embraced the platform. This allows you to chat in-app text, audio and video calls for free. Discord also saw the boom used in the early days of the pandemic. The company reported an acquisition talks with Microsoft for $10 billion in 2021, but the transaction has not been realized.
Over 200 million people use Discord each month, with 93% of them using the app to play the game.
The company makes money through a “freemium” model that allows you to pay a free subscription fee for upgraded features such as custom emojis and high quality audio and video chat. Discord does not rely on traditional advertising to generate revenue.
In recent years, Discord has sought to expand its appeal, embracing influencers, musicians and others, creating their own discrepancies chat rooms to help fans gather and form an online community.
Discord is also beginning to expand its business. The company debuted in its online shop in 2023, with users paying to enhance their profiles and add custom graphics to their digital avatars.
