Slack Is Worth $2.8 Billion, Valuation Has More Than Doubled Since October

The office messaging software has become a way of life in many tech and media companies. Investors are betting it will get much, much bigger.

Slack, the workplace messaging start-up that debuted only last year, has rocketed to a $2.8 billion valuation through a fresh round of venture capital.

Just six months after its previous financing round, Slack said on Thursday that it had raised an additional $160 million from venture capital firms including Horizons Ventures, Digital Sky Technologies and Index Ventures. The financing gives Slack a valuation that is more than double its $1.2 billion level in the previous round in October.

The blistering pace of fund-raising shows how Slack has been anointed by investors clamoring for a piece of the action. The young company, led by Stewart Butterfield, said on Thursday that it was used daily by more than 750,000 people, more than double the number at the beginning of this year.

The latest financing round, which also includes Spark Capital Growth and Institutional Venture Partners as investors, brings Slack's total money raised to $340 million. All of the start-up's existing investors, including Accel Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, the Social+Capital Partnership, Google Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, also participated in the round.

Slack offers group chat software for workplaces that is used by companies like PayPal, Blue Bottle Coffee and BuzzFeed. It makes money by charging companies for subscriptions.

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