Slack Secures £141m In Fresh Funding For Business Collaboration Push

Workplace communication app Slack has raised $200 million (£140.6m) in fresh funding, giving it a valuation of $3.8 billion (£2.7bn), as it looks to strengthen its position in the business collaboration market.

Although the company was only founded three years ago, it already has 2.7 million active users, a base which is growing at a rate of three and a half. It has so far raised $540 million (£379.6m) in funding and was valued at $2.8 billion (£2bn) a year ago, according to TechCrunch.

“As has always been the case, we are taking this opportunity to further secure our leadership position as we continue to execute on our ambitious growth plans, “CEO and co-founder Stewart Butterfield was quoted as saying.

Cut it some Slack

“This capital adds to our existing reserves and increases our ability to focus on an uncompromising long-term, strategic view.”

Slack is free to use, with businesses able to upgrade to ‘premium’ versions that offer more features and support more users. Part of its success can be attributed to the fact that many people use the communication capabilities in their personal lives too, making them more likely to collaborate in a corporate environment.

The platform has an app directory with more than 150 integrations, including Google Drive and Dropbox, which users can install.

The collaboration space is becoming increasingly competitive, with the likes of Box, Dropbox, Google and Microsoft adding such features to their platform, while the likes of Jive and Yammer cater specifically for the enterprise market. Facebook at Work is currently being tested ahead of a wider rollout.

Recent research from app management company Okta found that Slack is one of the fastest growing cloud applications, although Microsoft Office 365 is still the most popular.

How well do you know the language of the Internet?  Try our quiz!