Slack filed the registration for its initial public offering with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on 26 April. The company earlier indicated it wants to directly list its shareson the New York Stock Exchange. In its latest filing, the company gave more details about itself, saying three or more workers at over 600,000 organisations in over 150 countries use its services. Co-founders Stewart Butterfield and Cal Henderson own 8.6 percent and 3.4 percent stakes in the company. Accel holds 24 percent, Andreesen Horowitz 13.3 percent, Social Capital 10.2 percent and SoftBank 7.3 percent. Earlier reports said Slack was hoping for a valuation of over USD 100 billion with the listing.
Over 88,000 paid users
Slack, which started in 2014, provides business software that has gradually replaced emails at companies, as a method of communication between employees. Specifically, the company said it had over 10 million daily active users in the first quarter of this year. It had over 88,000 paid customers in January 2019, from 59,000 the year before, and 37,000 in 2017. More than 500,00 organisations were on its Free subscription plan in January. The company generates its revenue mainly from the sale of subscriptions. Paid customers can pay on a monthly or yearly basis, based on the numbers of Slack users it has.Revenues reach USD 400.6 million in fiscal 2019, as net loss narrows
The company said revenue for fiscal 2019 hit USD 400.6 million, from 220.5 million in fiscal 2018 and 105.2 million in fiscal 2017. International revenue made up 36 percent of the total in 2019, from 34 percent in both 2018 and 2017.Due to heavy investments in building the business, the net loss for 2019 went to USD 138.9 million in 2019, from 140.1 million in 2018 and 146.9 million in 2017. The loss is gradually reducing as revenue growth outpaces growth in operating expenses. Totally operating expenses reached USD 503.4 million in 2019, 338.0 million in 2018 and 238.1 million in 2017.
The company is now looking to expand its user base while enhancing its service, lifting the number of paid customers and increasing usage within organisations. On a technical level, the company wants to increase usage across existing and new business networks, use artificial intelligence, machine learning and advanced search in its service, and in general grow its application platform and developer ecosystem. It will also invest in international expansion.
