Guilded
Guilded is a San Francisco-based chat and communication platform designed for gaming communities, teams, and esports groups, distributed via MacOS, Windows, iOS, and Android apps under a product-led, self-serve model.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2017
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingSoftware
What Guilded does
Guilded, founded in 2017 and headquartered in San Francisco, operates a chat and communication platform purpose-built for gaming communities. Its single core product, the Guilded application, delivers real-time messaging, voice channels, and community management features and is distributed as a desktop client for MacOS and Windows and as mobile apps on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. The platform is positioned as an alternative to general-purpose communication tools, addressing the fragmented communication and lack of gaming-specific tooling that gaming teams, esports organizations, and community groups typically face. The company employs 51-100 people and operates under founder Eli Brown, supported by an engineering manager and chief of staff.
The business model is product-led: Guilded is acquired and consumed by users through self-serve downloads and app store installation, with no publicly disclosed pricing tiers and no enterprise sales motion visible in the source data. No revenue figures, paying customer logos, API/SDK offerings, or AI features are disclosed. The company has raised approximately $10.2M in venture funding across three rounds from 2017 to 2021, led at various stages by Y Combinator and affiliated angels (seed, 2017), Initialized Capital and Susa Ventures (seed co-lead), and Matrix (Series 2, 2020), with participation from Sterling.VC, Susa Ventures, DTRIBE Capital, Fuel Capital, FundersClub, Liquid 2 Ventures, SV Angel, Trifecta Capital, and ZhenFund.
Guilded's strategic posture reflects an early-stage consumer infrastructure company in a competitive market segment adjacent to Discord and other general-purpose team chat tools. Without disclosed monetization, recurring revenue signals, or a published AI/automation roadmap, the company's commercial trajectory is currently undifferentiated from a revenue-mix standpoint, and its differentiation rests entirely on vertical focus (gaming) and cross-platform distribution. The most recent confirmed capital event is a 2021 financing round, and post-2021 operating signals are absent from the available data.
Guilded firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Guilded
- Website
- https://guilded.gg
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2017
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- Guilded is a San Francisco-based chat and communication platform designed for gaming communities, teams, and esports groups, distributed via MacOS, Windows, iOS, and Android apps under a product-led, self-serve model.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Guilded industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Gaming Communication Platform
- akta.pro primary industry
- Community Communications & Voice/Chat Platforms (Discord-like, in-game comms) (MPAFAIAE)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Gaming Social Networks & Community Platforms (profiles, guilds, forums, discovery) (MPAFAIAD)
Keywords
Where Guilded is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Guilded business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Guilded product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Guilded operates a unified chat and communication platform purpose-built for gaming communities. The product provides real-time messaging, voice channels, and community management tools accessible across MacOS, Windows, iOS, and Android. It serves as a central hub for gamers, clans, esports teams, and gaming groups to coordinate, communicate, and manage community activities.
Product overview
Guilded is a single, unified chat platform for gaming communities. The core offering is the Guilded application, available as desktop clients for MacOS and Windows, as well as mobile applications for iOS (App Store) and Android (Play Store). The product provides real-time chat and community communication tools tailored for gaming groups, clans, and teams. No additional modules, add-ons, or sub-products are referenced in available source material.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Companies that use Guilded
Customer profileSegments1 record
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Guilded technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Guilded partnerships and signals
Strategic signalRecent moves5 records
Expansion highlights3 records
Guilded competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Mumble: Open-source, low-latency voice chat software widely adopted by gaming clans and competitive communities for in-game voice. Comparable as a dedicated gaming-community voice platform, though text/community features are minimal relative to Guilded.
- TeamSpeak: Long-standing VoIP communication software historically used by competitive gaming teams, esports clans, and online gaming communities. Highly comparable as a gaming-focused real-time voice/chat tool, though it lacks Guilded's modern text and community management breadth.
- Discord: The dominant chat and community platform purpose-built for gamers, offering voice channels, servers, and community features that directly overlap with Guilded's core offering. Discord is the primary direct competitor Guilded must displace to grow share.
- CurseForge (Twitch): Gaming-focused community and modding platform under Twitch/Amazon, historically offering voice (Curse Voice) and community features for gamers. Comparable as a gaming-community infrastructure peer with overlapping real-time communication history.
Broad incumbents
- Slack: Mass-market horizontal team chat and collaboration platform from Salesforce. While not gaming-specific, Slack competes for the same use case of organized group communication and is occasionally adopted by esports organizations and game studios for internal coordination.
- Telegram: Widely used cross-platform messaging app that has become a default community/announcement channel for many gaming groups, esports teams, and content creators. Comparable as a community messaging tool even though it is not gaming-specific.
- Steam Chat (Valve): Valve's integrated chat, voice, and community features inside the Steam gaming client serve PC gamers with group messaging, voice chat, and community hubs. Overlaps with Guilded on gaming-community communication, bundled into the broader Steam platform.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights5 records
Customer concentration
Guilded social profiles
Digital presenceGuilded financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Guilded leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
Guilded funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds3 records
Investors12 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Guilded M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Guilded
What does Guilded do?
Guilded operates a unified chat and communication platform purpose-built for gaming communities. The product provides real-time messaging, voice channels, and community management tools accessible across MacOS, Windows, iOS, and Android. It serves as a central hub for gamers, clans, esports teams, and gaming groups to coordinate, communicate, and manage community activities.
When was Guilded founded?
Guilded was founded in 2017. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is Guilded based?
Guilded is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
Who are Guilded's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Mumble, TeamSpeak, Discord and CurseForge (Twitch). Broad incumbents are Slack, Telegram and Steam Chat (Valve).
Does Guilded have an API?
No public API is recorded for Guilded.
What industry is Guilded in?
Guilded's product category is Gaming Communication Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAFAIAE, Community Communications & Voice/Chat Platforms (Discord-like, in-game comms), with a secondary code of MPAFAIAD, Gaming Social Networks & Community Platforms (profiles, guilds, forums, discovery).