Slite: Google Docs rival gets €10M funding for expansion

If you work in an office environment, then of course you live and breathe in the Microsoft Outlook world whether its exchanging emails or taking notes. But as the startup culture is sinking in globally, people in the corporate world are trying new productivity tools and apps and adopting Outlook alternatives like Google Docs, Slack and more to collaborate and work along with a team on the same document simultaneously.

However, with the new words processor wars getting fiercer, more new tools are coming which are offering the likes of Slack and Google Docs, all-in-one. One such tool is Slite, which was founded by Christophe Pasquier and Pierre Renaudin in 2016 at French startup studio eFounders, Slite helps teams make their work more transparent, efficient, and less interrupted. Already 4,000 businesses like Spotify, Airbnb and WeTransfer use the tool daily to organise docs, find info and document projects. And now the French startup has raised new funding.

Raises €10M funding

Paris-based Slite has just announced that it has secured $11 million (nearly €10 million) funding led by Spark Capital along with other investors. This takes the overall funding raised by the company to $15 million (nearly €13.7 million) since its launch by Y Combinator in 2018. Slite will use the fresh investment to accelerate product growth by delivering new collaboration tools to customers. It will also focus on expanding its current remote team of 20 to grow its engineering, design, product, and marketing teams across the world.

“In the past few years, there have been hundreds of new productivity tools. Slite stands out for two reasons: first, by providing a user-friendly experience to all businesses,” explains Christophe Pasquier, Slite CEO. “Second because we want to change the way companies work. We’re challenging the status quo—meetings, realtime communication, an office. Slite promotes information transparency, asynchronous collaboration and remote possibilities.”

Ropes in new Board Of Directors

Besides the investment from Spark Capital, an early and growth-stage venture capital fund, Slite also ropes in Bijan Sabet, a co-founder and General Partner at the VC fund as a new Board of Director.

“The first time I used Slite’s product, I knew I had to invest in Christophe and the team. Slite has the rare combination of being lightweight and simple, yet very powerful,” said Bijan Sabet, founder, and GP at Spark Capital. “Today, there is certainly no shortage of collaboration tools. Slite, however, reminds me of the early days of Trello and Tumblr, where many players were competing in a crowded market. Still, by bringing beautifully simple, elegant products with a unique offering to market, the companies quickly stood apart from the competition. We are thrilled to support the talented Slite team.”

Collaboration software is booming. Slack and Microsoft are head-to-head in the messaging space. But today more than ever, companies need tools that reduce interruptions and increase focus. The next big shift in office tools is around centralising documents and finding information—which neither Word, Google Docs, or Confluence have simultaneously solved so far. Hence, the company is now focussed on the collaboration experience.

Main image picture credits: Slite

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