Discord in Talks to Raise Funds at a $3 Billion-Plus Valuation
Discord, Buoyed by Virus Lockdowns, in Talks to Raise Funds
(Bloomberg) -- Chat-tool provider Discord Inc. is in talks to raise new capital from investors at a time its business is booming because of stay-at-home orders amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The startup, led by Chief Executive Officer Jason Citron, is in talks to raise fresh funds at a valuation of more than $2 billion, the figure it commanded in December 2018, said people with knowledge of the matter. Although Discord isn’t in need of cash, it could raise new funds at a valuation of between $3 billion and $4 billion, said some of the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. Talks are not guaranteed to result in a deal, one of the people said.
Discord’s free video, voice and text technology was primarily used to bring gamers together, but, since the pandemic, people stuck at home have started using it for study groups, dance classes, book clubs and other virtual social gatherings. Since the beginning of the year, daily voice users have grown 50% in the U.S., while doubling in Spain and France and tripling in Italy. In the realm of gaming, 56 million monthly players send some 963 million messages a day on the platform.
A representative for Discord declined to comment.
The company, which is five years old, raised $150 million from institutions including Greenoaks Capital, IVP, Firstmark and Tencent, it said in December 2018. Other investors include Benchmark, Greylock Partners and Spark Capital Partners LLC.
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.