Discord — the hugely popular chat platform best known for connecting gamers, streamers and online communities — has taken a major step toward going public in the United States by confidentially filing for an initial public offering (IPO) with U.S. regulators, according to a Bloomberg News report citing people familiar with the matter. The confidential filing signals that Discord, with more than 200 million monthly active users, is exploring a public listing as early as 2026, and has enlisted Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. as lead advisors on the potential offering. The move comes as the U.S. IPO market shows signs of recovery after years of relative dormancy, driven in part by renewed investor interest in tech listings after a sluggish period in 2023–2024.
Founded in 2015 and headquartered in San Francisco, Discord has grown from a voice-and-text chat tool for gamers into a broad communication platform used by programmers, hobbyists, educators, and niche communities worldwide. While specifics such as the IPO size, valuation or share pricing have not been made public, the filing allows Discord to begin confidential discussions with regulators and institutional investors and lays the groundwork for a potential public debut in the coming months. Analysts caution that the company could ultimately decide not to proceed with the public listing, as confidential filings do not guarantee a final IPO — but the step reflects Discord’s bottom-line maturation and strategic planning amid broader tech market dynamics.
The timing of Discord’s confidential IPO filing underscores a broader shift in market sentiment toward venture-backed tech listings in the United States. After nearly three years of slow activity, the U.S. IPO market rebounded in 2025, with data showing that tech companies on public exchanges raised significantly more capital than in 2024, even as investors navigated headwinds such as tariff-induced volatility, a prolonged U.S. government shutdown, and late-year selloffs in artificial intelligence and growth stocks. A Bloomberg-compiled dataset indicates that tech IPO proceeds on U.S. exchanges more than doubled year-over-year in 2025, reflecting renewed deal flow and investor interest in high-growth platforms poised for public market scrutiny.
Discord’s management has not publicly confirmed the IPO filing, and company representatives have declined to comment on Bloomberg’s report. A spokesperson reiterated that Discord’s principal focus remains on building a robust and sustainable business and improving user experience, rather than engaging directly with market speculation. The platform’s revenue model — which combines paid Nitro subscriptions offering premium features with advertising initiatives and community tools — has evolved significantly from its gaming roots, positioning the company for diversified monetization strategies that could appeal to public market investors.
The involvement of Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan in the IPO process reinforces the seriousness of Discord’s ambitions. These financial powerhouses are routinely engaged with marquee technology and growth stock listings, and their guidance signals that Discord is preparing to meet the rigorous reporting, governance and investor relations standards required of a publicly traded company. Should the IPO proceed, Discord would join a pipeline of venture-backed companies eyeing public markets in 2026, expanding the roster of high-profile tech listings after years of muted activity.
For investors and market watchers, a Discord IPO would represent a significant milestone in the evolution of digital community platforms — similar in cultural and financial impact to the public listings of social networks and messaging services over the past decade. Whether the company ultimately decides to complete the IPO or reassess its strategy in light of market conditions remains uncertain, but the confidential filing itself signals that Discord is seriously positioning itself for life as a public company in the coming year.
