Tech startup Slack Technologies, Inc. (traded privately) just announced that it’s raised $250 million, thanks to Accel Partners (traded privately) and SoftBank (TYO:$9984). The Series G funding has upped Slack’s valuation, putting it at $5 billion. This is quite an increase from the $3.8 billion the company was valued at in April 2016, when it had its last funding round. The $5 billion valuation came despite the previous expectations that the office communications company would only reach $5 billion after receiving funding of $500 million.
Besides becoming increasingly popular thanks to its chatting application – designed to make communication in the office or team environment easier and more efficient – Slack has also caught the attention of several big-name tech companies like Amazon (NASDAQ:$AMZN), Microsoft (NASDAQ:$MSFT), and Google (NASDAQ:$GOOGL). Rumours have been surfacing that these companies have all expressed interest in buying the tech startup. However, Slack founder and CEO Stewart Butterfield seems pretty adamant in keeping his company independent.
It’s an exciting time for Slack as it starts to pick up more users and gain traction.
When contacted for comment by Business Insider, the company did not respond.
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