What is Discord?
Voice, video, text, and community platform built around gaming and shared interests.
- Category
- Social communications
- Headquarters
- San Francisco, CA
- Founded
- 2015
- Employees
- ~800
- Total funding
- ~$1B disclosed
- Valuation
- $15B last major private round
What is Discord?
Discord is a communications platform for voice, video, text, streaming, and communities, especially around games and shared interests.
Discord lets users create servers with channels for persistent chat, voice, video, streaming, roles, moderation, bots, and community workflows. It began as a gaming communication tool and expanded into broader interest communities while still emphasizing games as the core identity.
Public company statements around the 2025 CEO transition cited more than 200 million monthly active users and billions of monthly hours spent playing games with Discord open. The company remains private but has repeatedly been discussed as an eventual IPO candidate after a $15 billion private valuation in 2021.
What does Discord offer?
Discord offers servers, text chat, voice, video, streaming, Nitro subscriptions, boosts, apps, bots, quests, moderation, and community tools.
- Servers· Communities
- Voice channels· Communication
- Video and streaming· Communication
- Nitro· Subscription
- Server Boosts· Subscription
- Quests· Advertising
- Apps and bots· Developer platform
- Safety and moderation· Trust
Sources:Discord NitroDiscord Developers
How does Discord make money?
Discord makes money from Nitro subscriptions, Server Boosts, developer/app commerce, and advertising products such as Quests.
Discord's paid consumer products include Nitro Basic at about $2.99 per month and Nitro at about $9.99 per month in the U.S., plus annual plans and Server Boosts that unlock higher-quality community features. It also monetizes avatar decorations, profile effects, and other digital goods.
Discord has cautiously expanded advertising through Quests, sponsored game-discovery campaigns that reward users for streaming or playing games. Growth depends on converting free users, preserving community trust, expanding game partnerships, and avoiding intrusive social-media ad patterns.
Who leads Discord?
Discord is led by CEO Humam Sakhnini, with co-founders Jason Citron and Stanislav Vishnevskiy remaining important board and technical figures.
- Humam SakhniniChief Executive OfficerCEO since April 2025Former Activision Blizzard and King executive hired to scale Discord toward its next phase.
- Jason CitronCo-founder, board member, and CEO advisorCo-founder - since 2015Founded Discord and stepped down as CEO in 2025.
- Stanislav VishnevskiyCo-founder and Chief Technology OfficerCo-founder - since 2015Leads core technology and platform direction.
- Tesa AragonesChief Marketing OfficerExecutive leadershipLeads brand and growth as Discord expands monetization.
How do you contact Discord's leadership?
Discord does not publish verified personal executive emails. Use press, developer, safety, or support channels first; executive addresses below are format-following only.
first.last@discord.com (format-following; verify before use)Sources:Discord pressDiscord support
How much funding has Discord raised?
Discord has raised roughly $1 billion in disclosed funding and was last broadly valued at about $15 billion in 2021.
Discord's major rounds include early venture backing after its 2015 launch; a $150 million round in 2018 at a reported $2 billion valuation; a $100 million round in 2020 around a $3.5 billion valuation; another $100 million round in late 2020 around a $7 billion valuation; and a $500 million round in 2021 led by Dragoneer at about a $15 billion valuation.
The company reportedly explored strategic interest from Microsoft in 2021 but remained independent. By June 2026, there was no announced IPO, but the 2025 CEO transition was widely interpreted as preparation for a more mature public-company path.
How did Discord get here?
Discord grew from a gaming voice app into a mainstream community communications platform.
- 2015LaunchedJason Citron and Stanislav Vishnevskiy launched Discord.
- 2018$2B valuationRaised a major round as gaming communities expanded.
- 2020Pandemic growthUsage broadened beyond gaming into social and education communities.
- 2021$15B valuationRaised $500M led by Dragoneer.
- 2024Refocused on gamingLaid off staff and emphasized core gaming use cases.
- 2025New CEOHumam Sakhnini replaced Jason Citron as CEO.
Who are Discord's competitors?
Discord competes with gaming voice platforms, social community apps, messaging tools, and creator/community platforms.
- SlackWorkplace messaging platform with stronger enterprise collaboration positioning.
- TeamSpeakGaming voice product with long-running low-latency community roots.
- GuildedGaming community chat platform owned by Roblox.
- TelegramLarge messaging app with groups and channels but less gaming-native voice culture.
- RedditAsynchronous community platform competing for interest-based group attention.
Discord — frequently asked questions
