Discord Inc, responsible for the popular chat and calling platform of the same name, has raised $500 million in a new round of investment, leading the company to be valued at around $15 billion. That’s more than double the value of its last investor valuation last year of $7 billion.
The news was first reported by the Bloomberg, who spoke with a company spokesperson familiar with the matter and who asked not to be identified as this information is still private. According to the source, the financing was led by Dragoneer Investment Group, with the participation of companies Baillie Gifford & Co, Coatue Management, Fidelity Management & Research Co and Franklin Templeton.
Discord grows beyond the gaming community
Discord is an especially popular platform among the gaming community, but it has recently become a great option for group communication and community management for many other areas during the pandemic. Currently, groups of work, music, art and many others and different sectors actively participate in Discord.
The company based in San Francisco, in the United States, already has more than 150 million monthly active users. The service caught the attention of more people precisely by offering personalized options for chat, voice and video channels.
Jason Citron, co-founder and CEO of Discord, said in a statement sent to Bloomberg that the new millionaire contribution will be used to “invest in new resources, tools and expand the company’s workforce”.
Microsoft Tries to Buy Discord, But Offer Is Rejected
The company has been gaining a lot of visibility and the market is recognizing this. Since the beginning of 2021, Discord has already received multiple acquisition proposals from multiple companies. Microsoft has offered $12 billion for the startup, according to insiders familiar with the negotiations. However, Discord rejected the proposal in April, ending discussions with the tech giant.
Furthermore, before this new round of investments, the communication platform had already raised around US$600 million. Thus, Discord is on the way to becoming a strong competitor, ready to face market leaders and increasingly attracting the attention of big fish.
With information: Bloomberg