档案库 · 开发与企业工具 · 财务决策 · 2013–2018
Slack以71亿美元估值融资4.27亿美元，押注与微软和Facebook的竞争
拥有800万日活用户和7万付费团队的工作聊天工具Slack，在微软和Facebook入场之际，以超过71亿美元的投后估值融资4.27亿美元，以保持独立领先地位。
Slack
做的是什么生意
Slack is a workplace communications platform that launched in 2013 and lets teams chat in channels while pulling data from hundreds of other work apps; it gives the service away free to teams and charges organizations that want history, administration and support.
启动资金：Slack had raised $841M before this round from roughly 40 investors including SoftBank, Accel, Kleiner Perkins, GV, DST, Index, Andreessen Horowitz and Social Capital; the August 2018 Series H added $427M led by Dragoneer Investment Group and General Atlantic, with T. Rowe Price, Wellington Management, Baillie Gifford and Sands Capital joining.
起因
Slack launched in 2013 and grew fast on the strength of an easy interface and integrations with nearly every work app. By August 2018 it reported more than 8 million daily active users and 70,000 paying teams. CEO Stewart Butterfield had long said the company raised opportunistically — it was already making money and held cash, but took funding at good valuations because, in his words, you never know what might lie ahead.
经过
In September 2017 SoftBank led a $250M round at a $5.1B valuation. A year later the competitive stakes had climbed: Microsoft's Teams and Facebook's Workplace were chasing the same customers. Slack responded as a consolidator — buying up rivals such as HipChat — and pushing beyond small teams toward bigger enterprise accounts. On August 7, 2018 TechCrunch reported Slack was raising $400M+ at a $7B+ valuation; on August 21 Slack confirmed a $427M Series H at over $7.1B post-money, led by Dragoneer Investment Group and General Atlantic, with T. Rowe Price, Wellington Management, Baillie Gifford and Sands Capital joining.
结果
The Series H closed at over $7.1B post-money on August 21, 2018, up from $5.1B eleven months earlier, with Slack reporting 8M+ daily active users and 70,000 paying teams. Slack remained independent, having ruled out an IPO for that year, and used the cushion to consolidate the market and chase enterprise customers while Microsoft and Facebook competed from above.
背景
Slack是工作沟通平台，2013年推出，将团队聊天变成生态系统：对话在频道中进行，数百个其他工作应用将数据汇入同一流。到2018年8月，TechCrunch报道其日活用户超过800万，7万团队付费，这建立在易用的界面和与几乎所有办公工具的集成之上。
该公司的融资理念不寻常。CEO斯图尔特·巴特菲尔德表示，Slack是机会主义融资——它已经盈利且有现金储备，但在估值有利时接受风险投资，因为没人知道未来会怎样。这种逻辑导致2017年9月软银领投2.5亿美元，估值51亿美元；十一个月后，确认H轮融资4.27亿美元，投后估值超过71亿美元。
2018年8月的融资由Dragoneer投资集团和General Atlantic领投，T. Rowe Price、Wellington Management、Baillie Gifford和Sands Capital跟投，恰逢竞争加剧。微软推出了Teams，Facebook有Workplace，因此Slack正在整合——收购HipChat等竞争对手，并从初创公司向更大企业客户拓展，同时排除了当年的IPO。
这件事要成立，得有什么
- Slack的集成和自下而上的采用使其成为工作对话发生的默认层，即使不拥有更广泛的企业套件也拥有杠杆。
- 在盈利时机会主义融资让Slack在11个月内将估值从51亿美元提升至71亿美元，而没有流动性危机迫使条款不利。
- 微软Teams和Facebook Workplace使规模成为生存问题，而现金买来了整合（HipChat）以及对财富500强级别客户的拓展。
- 公开市场压力被推迟——Slack排除了2018年IPO——因此大规模私募轮是为预计持续数年的竞争提供资金的最便宜方式。
可借鉴之处
免费的自下而上的采用可以建立超过70亿美元价值的品类领导者，但要抵御捆绑式巨头的竞争，关键在于利用每次机会主义的融资来整合竞争对手并向上销售到企业市场。
后续进展
截至2018年8月21日，Slack完成了H轮融资4.27亿美元，投后估值超过71亿美元，日活用户超过800万，付费团队7万个，累计融资约12.7亿美元。它保持独立，并排除当年IPO，同时利用资本整合市场——收购了HipChat等竞争对手——并向更大的企业客户进军。Slack的独立平台能否抵御微软Teams和Facebook Workplace的竞争，是这轮融资旨在解决的关键问题。
资料来源
- Slack confirms it has raised $427M at a post-money valuation of over $7.1B
- Slack confirms it has raised $427M at a post-money valuation of over $7B — Hacker News
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