Slack’s $5.1 billion valuation shows it’s definitely onto something

Slack, the office collaboration and communication tool, has raised another round of funding to take the company to a whopping $5 billion valuation.

The majority of Slack’s new funding comes from Japanese firm Softbank – which has been dropping some $100 billion in tech investments, including $500 million in Improbable and £24.3 billion on ARM. Slack may have only seen $250 million from Softbank in its latest round, but such a strong backing from a multibillion-dollar global corporation shows that Slack is onto something.

Slack was once a tool championed by small businesses and seen as a Silicon Valley darling, and has now managed to become a major player in the enterprise sector. This puts Slack in direct competition with the likes of Microsoft and Atlassian – companies with far deeper pockets and install bases.

According to TechCrunch, Slack has more than six million active daily users and earns more than $200 million in annual recurring revenue. It’s a sign that, while slowed, this is still a company that’s growing rather quickly.

At Dennis, Alphr’s parent company,  the entire business uses Slack for internal communications. As we also use Google Apps, Slack’s integrations make a big difference in our ability to collaborate on tasks and share what we’re up to. Its ability to accept plugins from the likes of IFTTT, Zapier, Trello and more also make it wonderfully straightforward to track workflows and new content. It’s really no surprise that Slack has grown from Silicon Valley startup darling to a $5 billion company.

Slack has regularly been courted by the likes of Microsoft and Amazon for potential acquisitions at ludicrous prices such as $8-$9 billion. But these buyouts have so far failed to materialise, and Slack ends up receiving funding at a more sensible level instead. It does suggest that it’s a product big companies are interested in snapping up, but perhaps don’t feel it’s quite ready for a full enterprise rollout.

Slack has continually been adding new features since launch. Its latest addition lets you chat with Slack users in other organisations – making it an impressive tool for collaboration between businesses, rather than just employees. Ending the reign of email is, in our eyes, no bad thing.