Months after turning down Microsoft, Discord — a chat app popular with gamers — has more than doubled its valuation.
Discord raised $500 million at a $15 billion valuation in a round led by Dragoneer Investment Group. Baillie Gifford, Coatue Management, Fidelity Management and Research, and Franklin Templeton joined the round.
Discord now has over 150 million monthly active users, as it works to expand beyond gamers. The company hired former Nike executive Tesa Aragones as its chief marketing officer in Sept. 2020 to spur its growth into new markets.
- The latest funding round nearly matches its previous fundraising total of around $600 million.
- The San Francisco-based company earned $130 million in 2020 and $45 million in 2019. It was not profitable as of March.
- It does not sell ads or user data, but offers $9.99 per month subscriptions for improved video quality and other features.
Discord held acquisition talks with a number of companies earlier this year, and received a bid from Microsoft for $12 billion. The company ended those talks in April.
At the time, Discord was valued at $7 billion off of a $100 million raise from Dec. 2020.
