Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Press Play: IVP Invests in Discord

26/04/2018

By Somesh Dash and Alex Lim

Last week, Discord confirmed media reports that it recently raised a new round of growth financing, and we are pleased to announce today that IVP served as the lead investor in the financing.

It's no secret that Discord is one of the most exciting private consumer Internet companies out there today. It's our belief that Discord has a very good shot at being one of the iconic consumer companies of the next decade (and hopefully beyond!).

IVP is a leading later-stage venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, CA. We have been incredibly fortunate to be early backers of several game-changing consumer Internet companies, including Coinbase, Dropbox, Snap, Supercell, and Twitter. Just as these companies transformed their respective markets, we believe Discord has the potential to transform the gaming industry. Here is why we invested:

Passion for Gaming: True greatness emerges when mission-driven founders innovate around massive market opportunities. Jason Citron, CEO of Discord, is a life-long gamer and serial entrepreneur. He has also assembled a talented team who are all truly passionate about Discord's mission of bringing people together around games. We rarely see a team so dedicated, focused, and driven to change the market they serve. When we do find them, we focus our efforts on how to help them unlock their ultimate potential.

Users

Discord: Discord's voice, video, and text chat platform is built for the specific needs of gamers. Discord's easy-to-use core product is 100% free and jam-packed with features like crystal-clear voice chat, robust security, screen sharing, game integrations, and sweet tunes. Users love the product, and as a result, Discord's engagement metrics are amongst the best we have ever seen.

Breakneck Speed: At IVP we focus on companies in the hyper-growth stage and Discord is scaling and growing incredibly fast. Users are joining at an astonishing rate, and the company recently announced they had reached over 90M registered accounts less than three years after launch. We believe in a future where every gamer uses Discord every time they play.

Gaming Goes Mainstream: Thanks to the growth of online multiplayer games, mobile gaming, and new ways to create and share video content, games have become a $100BN industry and a core part of popular culture. A recent example: last month, the rapper Drake joined up with super-streamer Ninja for a casual game session and over 600,000 people tuned in live to watch them play! And before you ask, of course, they used Discord to chat!

A Bright Future: Like other successful messaging platforms, Discord benefits from strong network effects. Initially, it was small groups of friends chatting on Discord. Now, game developers and publishers, esports teams, online communities, and international influencers are building and engaging with massive audiences on Discord. We don't see this momentum slowing down, and with partnerships like the recently announced deal with Microsoft Xbox, we think Discord can expand its reach and become a global hub for gaming.

Great Co-investors: Discord's current investors include Benchmark, Greylock, Index, and Spark, which are some of the top venture capital firms in the world. We had the privilege of co-investing with these firms previously in some of our most successful investments and are delighted to collaborate with them again on Discord.

Because They Let Us: When Discord decided to raise a new financing round, IVP was one of a few firms considered as a potential lead investor. Discord is already a massive success, so we are thankful for the opportunity to partner with the company. Thank you to Jason, his team, and the Discord Board of Directors for choosing IVP. We look forward to working together in the years to come. Game on!

Somesh Dash is a General Partner at IVP, a later-stage venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, CA. Alex Lim is a Senior Associate at IVP.
LINK: https://www.ivp.com/news/blog/press-play-ivp-invests-in-discord/...
See more stories from ivp

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

05/06/2026

Nielsen, Mediaocean Announce New Integration to Power The Next Phase of Data-Driven Linear, Advanced Audience Measurement

MRI-Simmons and S&P Global Mobility are expanding advanced audience capabilities...

05/06/2026

Latest Nielsen data reveals insurance advertising climbs as Australians weigh cost, cover and loyalty

New Nielsen data shows insurance ad spend grew 11%, while consumers remain highl...

05/06/2026

Nielsen Adds New Audience Data Partnerships

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

05/06/2026

ASG Promotes Joe Marchitto to Western Regional CTO

ASG Promotes Joe Marchitto to Western Regional CTO Brie Clayton June 5, 2026 0 Comments Appointment to Support Engineering Alignment and Client Experi...

05/06/2026

Stargate Studios Colombia Uses DaVinci Resolve Studio for Vertical Microdramas

Stargate Studios Colombia Uses DaVinci Resolve Studio for Vertical Microdramas Brie Clayton June 5, 2026 0 Comments End to end post in one platform al...

05/06/2026

People Need to Come First When We Use AI

People Need to Come First When We Use AI Andy Marken June 5, 2026 0 Comments It's just surviving. Life's very existence requires destruction....

05/06/2026

Fahad Haider Joins NESN as VP, Operations and Engineering

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

05/06/2026

GatesAir Opens New Brazil Office to Back DTV+ Rollout

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

05/06/2026

Supreme Court Upholds FCC's Authority to Levy Fines

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

05/06/2026

Montclair State University Will Run NJ PBS

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

05/06/2026

Merkhet's Sam Matheny Urges Congress to Expedite BPS Deployment

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

05/06/2026

Sinclair Launches NextGen TV Campaign in Columbus, Ohio

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

05/06/2026

NAB Releases New Keep the Game On' Spot

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

05/06/2026

NCTC, ACAC Going to Disney World for Independent Show

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

05/06/2026

Nielsen Announces New Integrations for Improved Measurement

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

05/06/2026

Frequency Launches In-Scene Advertising to Accelerate Str...

Frequency, the engine powering many of the world's leading streaming television channels, today announced the launch of In-Scene Advertising, a new monetiza...

05/06/2026

Berklee Study Reveals Video Has Become Essential to Music Careers

Berklee Study Reveals Video Has Become Essential to Music Careers Survey findings show social platforms have become the primary source of music for video cont...

05/06/2026

RT Radio 1 Folk Awards 2026 Date Announcement

RT Radio 1 Folk Awards to take place on Tuesday 10th November 2026, Vicar Street, Dublin Moya Brennan, D nal Lunny, Mary Black and Christy Moore among previou...

04/06/2026

Sony's New PTZ Cameras Deliver 4K 60p; New STARVIS Sensor Meets Low-Light Demands

Sony Electronics is introducing the SRG-AS10, a 4K 60p-compatible PTZ auto-frami...

04/06/2026

SVG Students To Watch: Alex Albert, Texas A&M University

This recent grad from Spring, TX, led creative-video output for the Aggies' men's basketball team last season and has been producing video and creating ...

04/06/2026

USGA Brings AI Recaps, 3D Range Tracking, and Predictive Shot Tracing to U.S. Womens Open

For the first time at a women's golf major, every player in the field will r...

04/06/2026

Panasonic PT-RQ45 Projectors Power Lille Video Mapping Festival Opera House Installation

Three Panasonic PT-RQ45 40,000-lumen 3-Chip DLP projectors made their first live...

04/06/2026

Bitmovin and Akamai Support NRJ Groups Deployment of Akamai Adaptive Media Player 2

Bitmovin and Akamai have announced a collaboration with NRJ Group, a French mult...

04/06/2026

Telestream to Exhibit at InfoComm 2026 with Live Production and Media Workflow Demonstrations

Telestream will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth N7952), demonstrating media work...

04/06/2026

Sony Announces RIALTO 65 Image Sensor Block for VENICE 2, Targeting 2027 Release

Sony has announced the development of RIALTO 65, a 65mm format image sensor block for the VENICE 2 digital cinema camera, targeting release in the first half of...

04/06/2026

KOKUSAI DENKI Electric America to Exhibit 4K and Remote Production Solutions at InfoComm 2026

KOKUSAI DENKI Electric America will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth N8025, June ...

04/06/2026

Bell Media to Carry All 104 FIFA World Cup 2026 Matches Across TSN, RDS, and Streaming Platforms

Bell Media's TSN and RDS are the exclusive Canadian broadcasters of FIFA Wor...

04/06/2026

MASV Case Study: How MASV Reduced Miami HEAT's Road Game Video Transfer Times by 85%

The Challenge: Receiving Heavy Media Files From Road Games Quickly and ReliablyT...

04/06/2026

MASV Outlines Seven-Step Sports Analytics Workflow, Highlights File Transfer as Key Bottleneck

MASV, a managed file transfer platform used in broadcast and live sports product...

04/06/2026

NESN Appoints Fahad Haider as Vice President of Operations and Engineering

NESN has announced the appointment of Fahad Haider as Vice President of Operations and Engineering. Haider returns to NESN, where he previously served as Vice P...

04/06/2026

Sports Broadcaster, Executive, and Author David J. Halberstam Dies

David J. Halberstam, who spent almost 50 years in sports as a broadcaster and an executive, died June 2 after a years-long battle with brain cancer. Over his l...

04/06/2026

Grass Valleys Ben Dolinky on Offering Teachable Technology to College Students Across the Country

Although collegiate production programs are tasked with delivering high-quality ...

04/06/2026

Prime Video Caps First NBA Season With Sports Emmy Win, Carries In-House Production Into WNBA Campaign

California studio, two production trucks, global distribution system are combine...

04/06/2026

TikTok and Sundance Collab Launch Micro-Series Storytelling Program

New global program empowers and supports storytellers through scriptwriting course and access to industry experts TikTok and Sundance Institute today announce...

04/06/2026

Celemony announce Tonalic ARA support for Cubase & Nuendo

Steinberg DAWs now boast in-depth Tonalic integration Celemony's innovative virtual session musician plug-in has just received an update that brings ARA...

04/06/2026

GearExpo UK: Microphone Update

Get Hands-On With Over 20 Mic Brands GearExpo UK is fast approaching, and if you've been looking for a chance to check out some new mics, then you'r...

04/06/2026

Positive Grid launch Reactor amp range

Combos feature new Amplifier Intelligence engine Positive Grid's latest release sees the company introduce two new combo amplifiers that promise to offe...

04/06/2026

Is Your Job Making You Work this June?

Is Your Job Making You Work this June? 4 June, 2026 Media releases SBS Launches the World Cup Watchers' Rights Association to Stand Up For Australians&...

04/06/2026

Statement regarding unauthorised use of SBS logos on third party social content

Statement regarding unauthorised use of SBS logos on third party social content 4 June, 2026 Media releases SBS has become aware of social media posts in c...

04/06/2026

TiVo: TV Viewing Hits Post-Pandemic Peak

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/06/2026

Bitmovin and Akamai Support NRJ Group to Deploy Next Gene...

Bitmovin, a leading provider of video streaming infrastructure, and Akamai, the cybersecurity and cloud computing company that powers and protects business onli...

04/06/2026

American Underground Opens at American Tobacco Campus, Completing a 16-Year Full-Circle Story

American Underground (AU), the Startup Hub of the South and a community of mor...

04/06/2026

Nielsen: Thunder Rolls as NBA's Most-Watched Team

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/06/2026

AI Drives Lenovo's 2026 FIFA World Cup Broadcast Plans

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/06/2026

ATSC Conference Looks Beyond Traditional TV for 3.0 Success

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/06/2026

ATSC Awards Highest Technical Honor to Julia Kenyon

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...