A strong showing for Slack – the workplace messaging platform made its trading debut on the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday.

The stock began trading at $38.50 a share -- valuing it at more than $23 billion.

That's well above the $16 billion reference point set by the Stock Exchange.

Slack used a rare 'direct listing' instead of a traditional IPO, which means it does not raise fresh funds.

But, the direct listing offers Slack an opportunity to float shares without paying hefty investment banking fees.

Last April, music-streaming service Spotify used the direct listing method… which was perceived as a success at the time... Earlier this month — Slack, which competes with platforms like Microsoft Teams, said it expects fiscal 2020 revenue to grow as much as 50 percent… yet it anticipates a loss for the year.