Discord, the social chat app popular with the video game community, has met with investment bankers in recent weeks to discuss preparations for an initial public offering as soon as this year, two people familiar with the talks said.
An I.P.O. of a well-known technology company could provide a much-needed jolt for private companies weighing public listings. Market volatility caused by an uncertain economy, along with strong valuations for privately held companies, has led to a slow start for the I.P.O. market this year.
Discord was last valued by private investors in 2021 at roughly $15 billion.
The people, who requested anonymity because the conversations are confidential, cautioned that the talks were still exploratory and that I.P.O. plans remained subject to change.
A spokesperson for Discord said on Wednesday: “We understand there is a lot of interest around Discord’s future plans, but we do not comment on rumors or speculation. Our focus remains on delivering the best possible experience for our users and building a strong, sustainable business.”
Other companies are preparing to go public despite growing turbulence in the financial markets. CoreWeave, a provider of cloud computing services for artificial intelligence, filed for an I.P.O. this week. CoreWeave said in its filing that it had revenue of around $1.9 billion last year and a net loss of $863 million.
Discord was founded by Jason Citron and Stanislav Vishnevskiy, two tech workers who originally came together to build a video games studio. After releasing their first title, the two hit upon the idea for Discord after realizing they had difficulty communicating with each other online while playing a game. They released the first version of Discord on desktop computers and smartphones in May 2015.
Gamers embraced the platform, which allows people to chat over text, voice and video calls inside the app for free. Discord also saw a boom in use during the early days of the pandemic. The company held acquisition talks with Microsoft in 2021 for a reported $10 billion, though no deal materialized.
More than 200 million people use Discord every month, with 93 percent of them using the app to play games.
The company makes money through a “freemium” model in which people can use the apps for free and pay subscription fees for upgraded features, like custom emojis and higher-quality voice and video chat. Discord does not rely on traditional advertising to generate revenue.
In recent years, Discord has tried to expand its appeal, embracing influencers, musicians and other figures who have created their own Discord chat rooms for their fans to gather and form online communities.
Discord is also starting to expand its business. The company debuted an online shop in 2023 where users can pay to enhance their profiles and add custom graphics to their digital avatars.
