Slack Sets Stage for Initial Public Offering in Early 2019

Technology

Published: February 4, 2019 1:05 pm

Last Updated: January 11, 2020 11:39 am

Slack Technologies may be among the first of the so-called unicorn valuation companies to see an initial public offering (IPO) in 2019. Slack announced on its website on Monday that the company has confidentially submitted a draft registration statement (Form S-1) with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding a proposed public listing of its common shares.

While this is among the 24/7 Wall St. top 15 IPOs to watch in 2019, investors need to understand that the collaboration, messaging and communication platform provider may not conduct a formal IPO.

There is a reason that Slack is considered a hot IPO even if it has not priced yet. Slack last raised venture capital with what was reported as being close to a $7 billion valuation. As of January 29, the company had more than 10 million daily active users in its 85,000-plus paying customer base around the world.

Slack also has more than 1,500 apps in its own directory and integration partnerships with companies including Google, Workday, Salesforce, ServiceNow and Atlassian. The company also claims to have hundreds of thousands of customer-created custom Slack applications and integrations in active use.

Of the top 15 IPOs selected by 24/7 Wall St. to watch in 2019, the company snapshot at the end of 2018 indicated that Slack reportedly had hired Goldman Sachs to lead the company to an IPO. The company started in 2014 and now claims to be the fastest growing business application in history. Its December report showed 8 million daily active users, with 65 of the Fortune 100 companies having employees using Slack, and a total of 500,000 organizations (and 70,000 paying companies) using its platform.

Again, not all confidential filings result in formal IPOs. That said, many investors and companies will be watching this quite closely in the weeks and months ahead. Stay tuned.