Sources: Slack is actively preparing for an IPO in the first half of 2019, with an expected valuation of more than $7B
Messaging company, recently valued at roughly $7 billion, aims to debut in the first half — Slack Technologies Inc. is actively preparing for an initial public offering …
Context & Ripple Effects
Slack's path to the public markets has been repricing steadily upward: after a $250M round led by SoftBank and Accel put it above $5B in mid-2017, the company's August 2018 funding round landed at roughly $7.1B — and now sources say it is actively preparing to debut in the first half of 2019 at a valuation above that mark.
The preparation phase matters because it sets up the choices that follow in the coverage: which bank leads the deal (the Goldman Sachs mandate came months later) and whether Slack follows the conventional IPO bookbuild or the direct-listing route it ultimately reportedly chose.
First-order effects
- Slack's existing backers — including SoftBank and Accel from the 2017 round — gain a defined liquidity timeline, with the targeted $7B-plus valuation already above the last private-round price.
- A first-half 2019 window puts Slack into the same listing cohort as other large late-stage enterprise software names, forcing bankers to compete for the mandate.
Second-order effects
- Private-market buyers begin pricing the debut well ahead of the filing: by April 2019, secondary shares were changing hands at levels valuing Slack near $16B, more than double its last funding round.
- The final print lands far above the target in this report — sources pegged the June 2019 listing at $16B-$17B, meaning early secondary sellers who moved before the re-rating left upside on the table.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, high-profile software companies with strong cash positions increasingly bypass the traditional underwritten IPO — Slack's reported shift to a direct listing turns the offering into a liquidity event for insiders rather than a capital raise for the company.
- Bank economics come under pressure as issuers choose between full-service underwriting and cheaper listing structures, pushing advisory firms to justify fees through placement and stabilization rather than the offering itself.
The trend: Late-stage enterprise software companies are reaching public markets faster and at higher marks than their private rounds implied, with direct listings emerging as the preferred structure over the traditional bank-led IPO.