Why Tencent-Backed Gaming Chat App Is Taking On Steam

One of the hottest startups in gaming isn’t a game developer. It’s a chat app called Discord.

While little known outside the gaming world, Discord is hugely popular with gamers, boasting 150 million users,19 million of whom use it daily. That has drawn the attention of investors: backers include Tencent and venture capitalists such as Greylock and Benchmark. Discord was valued at $1.65 billion at its most recent fundraising in April.