US-based enterprise communication platform developer Slack is establishing a $50m corporate venturing fund to invest in enterprise software providers, Axios reported yesterday.
Slack has built a workplace messaging platform and went public in a June 2019 initial public offering before customer relationship management software provider Salesforce agreed earlier this month to acquire it for $27.7bn.
The company established a seed-stage investment vehicle called Slack Fund in 2015 with $80m – later cut to $25m, a spokesperson told Axios – to back developers of software tools that can be integrated with the Slack platform. Its portfolio includes 1Password, Mural and Hopin.
However, unlike Slack Fund, which raised half its capital from existing Slack investors, the new vehicle will be funded entirely off the company’s own balance sheet. It will also extend its investment focus to work-focused software products not necessarily compatible with Slack.
Jason Spinell, who manages Slack Fund, told Axios: “This has been the busiest year that we have had. We made 15 net new investments this year and we have made more follow-on investments.”