Discord could be planning an IPO in the US in 2025

After walking away from a $10 billion purchase by Microsoft, Discord is stepping out of its comfort zone. Reports say that the company is in talks with investment bankers about a public listing, a sign of a possible revival in the sluggish US IPO market.

The initial public offering  (IPO) market hasn’t been very active lately in both the UK and the US. However, experts think it will pick up in 2025.

Discord is still exploring IPO plans  

Discord could be the next big company to go public in the US, even though they put off their plans to do so for four years. 

A spokesperson for Discord said, “We understand there is a lot of interest around Discord’s future plans. [However] 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.”

An IPO of a well-known tech company could give private companies that are thinking about going public a much-needed boost. A volatile market due to an uncertain economy and high prices for privately owned businesses have made the IPO market start the year slowly.

The chat app has more than 200 million users every month. 93% are using the app while gaming. The business makes money with a “freemium” strategy. Users can download the apps for free, but they have to pay to get extra features like custom emojis and better voice and video chat. It’s not necessary for ads to bring in money for Discord.

The people who asked to stay anonymous because the talks are private said that the talks were just the beginning and that plans for the IPO could still change.

Some companies have already had their IPOs 

An IPO allows private companies to list on stock exchanges. This allows other funds, businesses, or individual investors to buy their shares, raising money for further investment in the company’s growth and for existing shareholders. Often, it is up to founders, employees, or early backers to sell up and claim a profit.

There are companies that are already operating. Canal+, a French media company that went public in December 2024 with a market value of about £2.5bn, was the biggest new company to list on the London Stock Exchange in recent months.

This year, Shein has also been doing well in the UK. But the Chinese fast fashion business is still having trouble with the government. They already took a lot of damage in 2025, when MPs criticized them in a Business and Trade Committee meeting and investors pushed them to lower the value they were planning to set.

Although there are still legal and moral problems for both sides, a float of £23bn would be good for the London Stock Exchange.

On the other hand, the AI cloud computing company CoreWeave opted to file for an IPO in New York this month. The IPO could raise about $4bn and value the company at more than $35bn, making it the biggest tech IPO of the year.

Others may be open to IPOs

According to reports, Klarna could file as early as next week in order to get a $15bn value in a New York listing. A valuation is expected to be set in April. Klarna is famous for letting people buy things now and pay for them later.

It has about 85 million customers worldwide. Reports say the company’s value has fluctuated, from over $45bn in 2021 to less than $7bn the next year.

Monzo is another company that might go public later this year. If it goes the same way, it will definitely have big financial and political effects.

There is no set date for when the digital bank will go public, but it has been a big hit in the British fintech scene, so many people hope it will stay in London. This is because it will be good for the LSE as well. A possible £4–5bn deal could still go either way, though, because the board and CEO are said to be split on which exchange would be best for their needs.

Also, payments firm Ebury, which Santander mostly owns, will likely go public in London this summer, with a value of around £2.5bn. Shawbrook, a British bank, also wants to float at around £2bn, but only if the market conditions allow it.

Many important start-ups, like the fintech companies Stripe and Chime and the data platform Databricks, had to stay private for much longer than planned. Now, they are likely to start planning to list their shares again.

The founder of EquityZen, a company that helps private companies and their employees sell their stock, said that the IPO calendar went from fully booked to wide open in a span of about three weeks.

This means that companies like car rental company Turo, AI chip company Cerebras, and financial services platform Stripe are now thinking again about going public after being ready to do so before. Phil Haslett of EquityZen said it would take a few brave companies to come out to get IPOs going again.

Cryptopolitan Academy: Want to grow your money in 2025? Learn how to do it with DeFi in our upcoming webclass. Save Your Spot