While there is still no date announced, Discord going public is one of the most widely anticipated IPOs on Wall Street. A listing is likely to occur on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) or NASDAQ, and the most recent fundraising round in August 2021 put Discord´s value at $15 billion.
The current market environment is particularly tough for technology companies, as the U.S. central bank keeps raising interest rates, making it more difficult for companies lacking an established track record to raise money. Nevertheless, a 2023 IPO is still possible as the interest in Discord has not diminished.
Founded | 2015 |
Headquarters | San Francisco, California, United States |
Number of employees | 750 |
Revenue 2021 | $200 million |
Stock Exchange | New York Stock Exchange |
Potential Valuation | $15 billion |
Source: Zippia.com
Using Discord is free for everyone. So, how does the company make money then?
Surprisingly, Discord remains ads-free, unlike many of its competitors. Instead, the company generates revenues from premium subscriptions (called Nitro) and other services such as server boosting and game distribution fees.
Discord´s premium package is called Nitro and is available for $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year. Users get custom and animated emojis, custom tags, server boosts, and other premium features.
It remains to be seen if Discord will be able to remain ads-free once it goes public. Shareholders are likely to put pressure on the company to introduce ads, which could create another significant revenue stream.
Steam is a text/voice messaging service that focuses on gamers. It currently has more than 120 million active users.
TeamSpeak is another app that is particularly popular in the e-sports space. There is also Slack, which is targeting enterprise use. It has recently been acquired by tech giant Salesforce.
UAE-based Telegram´s - another major competitor - popularity has exploded in recent years, and it boasts 700 million monthly active users.
Discord raised $500 million at its latest fundraising round in September 2021, which gave it a valuation of $15 billion. Prior to that, it reached a valuation of $7 billion in December 2020.
Currently, the ownership of Discord is made up of a range of individuals - which includes its founders - and institutional investors.
Information about Discord´s financial performance has been limited so far. The company appears to have generated $130 million in revenues in 2020, a significant increase from the $45 million generated in 2019.
Investors will likely expect Discord to find additional revenue streams - including the launch of ads.
An Initial Public Offering (IPO) is an investor’s first chance to gain exposure to an organisation. An IPO is an important milestone for a company looking to raise capital and an opportunity for investors to get involved in a hopefully growing business.
With Axi you can get exposure to Discord IPO as soon as it’s listed on a specific exchange and prices from the exchange become available to our liquidity providers.
Sources: Bloomberg, Yahoo Finance
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