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Slack Makes Third Acquisition In 3 Months

In its latest acquisition, messaging powerhouse Slack has picked up Astro.

The move is part of Slack’s mission to bundle up workplace communication into one place. Astro, founded out of Palo Alto in 2015, is the maker of an AI-powered app that allows email and calendar information to be viewed directly from Slack’s messaging interface, essentially providing a way for workers to check all their messages in the same place without moving between apps. With the acquisition, Astro’s tech will be rolled into Slack’s platform.

Slack has acquired five companies—including Astro—since it was founded in 2009, per the PitchBook Platform. Notably, three of those acquisitions have occurred since the beginning of the summer.

In July, Slack picked up Missions, an app developed by Robots & Pencils that allows users of Slack to automate routine tasks. Later that same month, the San Francisco-based company agreed to acquire Hipchat and Stride, two of Atlassian’s messaging products. As part of that deal, Slack is integrating the collaboration apps into its own product, much like it’s doing with Astro.

Pre-2018, Slack had made just two acquisitions in nine years. Its first ever was Spaces, a collaboration startup it picked up in 2014. The following year, Slack bought Screenhero, a startup that developed a platform for users to access one another’s screens. The deal for Astro is reportedly the biggest of Slack’s acquisitions, and most of the company’s 28 employees are said to be joining Slack upon the deal’s closing.

The deal comes a month after Slack announced a major new fundraise. The company brought in $427 million at a valuation of more than $7.1 billion in late August, further solidifying its ranking as one of the most valuable VC-backed companies in the US.

From Astro’s perspective, the acquisition represents an exit for its investors, which include Redpoint Ventures and Aspect Ventures. The company raised more than $8 million in a Series A funding last year.

 

Read More – www.pitchbooks.com