Slack raises $250M from SoftBank; Now valued at $5.1B

Software startup Slack has been valued at $5.1 billion after its recent round of financing from SoftBank where it raised $250 million. The latest funding led by SoftBank through its Vision Fund and joined by Accel and other investors have lifted Slack's funds to $841 million, the company said. The company in the past has raised money from venture firms including GGV Capital, Spark Capital and Thrive Capital, among others.

Slack chief executive Stewart Butterfield said, "the fund provides resources which will help Slack to run as a cash-generating company and the raise will reduce its dependence on outside financing." The new round of funding is a big step forward from its last round valuation of $3.8 billion in April 2016. During this round, the company received $200 million from investors.

The funding round comes at a time when Slack is determined to stay ahead of Microsoft, which launched its Slack killer- 'Teams' last year. Microsoft last week added an important feature to this service that allows people other than employees to join in a company’s group chats.

Stewart Butterfield also said the firm would probably go public, but not until after 2018, according to The Financial Times.

Slack, launched in February 2014 has more than 9 million weekly active users and 6 million daily active users. The company has more than 2 million people paying to use the service and revenue from subscriptions has reached $200 million.