The Discord platform, an incredibly popular instant messaging app that overshadowed Skype, TeamSpeak, and other once-dominant voice communication tools a few years ago, taking the hearts of gamers and IT professionals by storm, is now gearing up for another breakthrough – a stir on Wall Street and the technological debut of the year.
This isn’t the first time Discord has looked at the stock market. There were reports in 2022 that the company was considering going public, but instead of a classic IPO, the company was reportedly leaning toward a direct listing—a path previously taken by Spotify and Coinbase, among others.
Ultimately, nothing came of it, and the topic died down, but not for long. Last year, Discord's CEO, when asked about stock market plans, admitted that the debut would “probably” happen. However, he did not reveal any details or specific dates, leaving investors hanging and hoping that this time the company would actually take this step.
But that seemed like a certainty, especially after Discord rejected a $12 billion takeover bid from Microsoft in 2021 — yes, the Microsoft that Discord previously beat back with Skype.
And indeed, “probably” is slowly turning into a certainty. According to anonymous sources cited by Bloomberg , Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan are working on an IPO for Discord, and the company itself may enter the stock exchange this year , although it is worth noting that we have no certainty in this matter, only guesses.
Monetization of the free messenger, or how to earn money with emojis
Discord is, in principle, a free platform, or at least free in the sense of its basic functions, which are creating servers, rooms, voice communication, and chat. However, this does not mean that the San Francisco-based startup does not want money from gamers who are so eager to spend it. Discord has found a way to monetize its popularity by offering users something they do not necessarily need but really want to have. And so Nitro was born. A paid subscription that does not unlock any of the platform's key features, but makes using it more enjoyable, more “premium” and, let's be honest, allows you to stand out.
For a dozen or several dozen zlotys a month (depending on the option), users can enjoy better sound and video quality, larger file transfer limits, as well as the ability to set an animated avatar or use custom emojis on all servers.
An additional source of revenue is advertising sales. Video game companies pay Discord to promote their titles in the app, as well as in the Social SDK, a set of tools that allows for the integration of social features with games, or to put it simply, they pay for the ability to embed Discord in the game.
The results? Between 2020 and 2024, Discord's revenue quadrupled, surpassing $600 million annually, with nearly $890 million in 2024 alone.
Growing revenues and interest in the stock market did not come out of nowhere
Discord has attracted investors for years, who were willing to put hundreds of millions of dollars into the development of the platform. To date, the company has raised over $1.1 billion in funding . In 2020, after the Series G round, its valuation was $3.6 billion, and in the same year it increased to $7 billion after the Series H. However, the real jump came in 2021 – Discord raised as much as $600 million, reaching a capitalization of $15 billion.
So Microsoft's rejection of the takeover offer was no accident. The company knew exactly how much it was worth and that it could play for more.
Discord's IPO could be one of the biggest news stories on the tech market this year. The question is whether investors will believe in its potential for further growth and its ability to continue monetizing its growing user base, or whether the business is approaching its glass ceiling (and the competition, let's be clear, is formidable, as it battles Teams, Zoom, and Slack) and will be perceived by the market as a mature business that has reached its peak.
