Discord, the US-based online messaging platform developer backed by corporates Tencent and WarnerMedia, has raised $500m in a funding round led by Dragoneer Investment Group, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.
The round also featured investment and financial services group Fidelity, Baillie Gifford, Coatue Management, Franklin Templeton and unnamed existing investors, and it valued the company at approximately $15bn.
Discord’s platform was launched for gamers to communicate with each other in real time but experienced an explosion in demand during the pandemic and has expanded its chat products to include events beyond gaming.
The funding will be used to grow the company’s workforce and invest in new products. It had previously raised about $600m in funding, according to Bloomberg.
The deal came nine months after Discord’s $100m series H round, which was led by Greenoaks Capital and which also featured Index Ventures. Its valuation has also more than doubled since that round, when it stood at $7bn.
Discord had raised $100m in a June 2020 round that included Index Ventures, and internet and gaming group Tencent participated in a $150m round led by Greenoaks Capital in 2018, when it was joined by Technology Opportunity Partners, FirstMark Capital, IVP and Index Ventures.
Greylock led a $20m round for the company in 2016 that incuded Tencent, Benchmark, YouWeb and Benchmark, after it had received an undisclosed amount from Tencent, Benchmark and Studio 9+ the previous year.
WarnerMedia had participated in Discord’s $8.2m series A round in 2015 together with Benchmark and existing backers IDG Capital, Accel and General Catalyst.
Following its growth over the pandemic, several companies – including computing technology provider Microsoft – had reportedly approached Discord for a takeover. Microsoft’s offer was reportedly sized at about $12bn but talks fell through in April this year.
