San Francisco-based startup Slack Technologies is in talks with investors to raise financing worth more than $ 2 billion, according to a report this week by Bloomberg. Slack makes software to encourage workplace collaboration.
Slack resembles other instant messenging and group chat apps such as AOL Instant Messenger or Internet Relay Chat. But because Slack is hosted online and is highly customizable, it’s also easy for corporate technology departments to set up and maintain.
The app is based on an online game, Glitch, which was developed by Slack founder Stewart Butterfield. Slack, which is based on Glitch’s messaging and communication technology, said last month it had more than 500,000 active daily users. Last year, Butterfield said companies such as Airbnb, eBay and Salesforce were using the product. Subscriptions range from free to $ 12.50 monthly per user, depending on features, with a large-enterprise version planned later this year ranging from $ 49-$ 99.
Channels Based on Projects, Groups, Topics
According to Slack, its app creates open channels for the projects, groups and topics shared by work teams. The “channels” created by the app increase transparency by putting knowledge in everyone’s hands, according to the company, with discoverability, complete history and search across all channels built in. Channels include messages, files and comments, inline images and video, rich link summaries and integration with the services such as Twitter, Dropbox and Google Drive.
Entire conversations can be searched, not just individual messages, so users can find the portion of a chat they want no matter who said what or when they said it.
Other features include auto-complete, which the company says makes mentioning teammates easier; support for Apple and Google emoji styles; support for private groups and one-to-one direct messaging; and configurable notifications for desktop, mobile push and e-mail.
In fact, Slack maintains that the service could unseat internal e-mail as a communications tool at many companies, as it lets desktop and mobile messaging, file sharing and notifications fold into one place.
“We were using a combination of Skype, chat and e-mail for communication,” said Simon Peck, co-founder and CTO of online shopping app The Hunt. “Now we use Slack and our e-mail volume has dropped by 80 percent.”
Funding Round Not Yet Closed
Slack’s funding round has not yet closed, and the size and terms of the deal may change, according to the Bloomberg report. In October, privately owned Slack raised $ 120 million in a round of financing co-led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Google Ventures, valuing the company at $ 1.12 billion.
After only a year in operation, Slack is serving about a half-million workers each day as a partial replacement for e-mail, instant messaging and face-to-face meetings. Its base of users is doubling every three months, according to the company.
More than 50 U.S. technology companies reached a valuation of at least $ 1 billion in the past two years, according to CB Insights. Other startups such as Airbnb and Snapchat have surpassed a $ 10 billion valuation, while Uber Technologies has reached $ 40 billion, the highest for a U.S. startup.
FinancialAnalyst:
Posted: 2015-03-24 @ 2:47pm PT
Dot bombs 2.0 in the making.
