Accel, A16z stand to gain as Slack shares trade Thursday

Top shareholders Accel and Andreessen Horowitz stand to benefit with big gains as Slack shares begin to trade Thursday.

Later-stage investors Social Capital and the SoftBank Vision Fund also could win handsomely as they hold substantial portions of the company.

Slack has said it will list shares on the New York Stock Exchange in a direct public offering, therefore bypassing the typical IPO process involving Wall Street investment bankers and expected price ranges. Analysts instead anticipate a stock price of between $31.50, its highest paid secondary market price, and close to $39.

Such an outcome would be good news for Accel and Andreessen Horowitz, which participated in early rounds backing the company.

Accel is the largest shareholder with 23.8 percent of the company, or 119.9 million shares. Andreessen Horowitz is second with 13.2 percent, or 66.5 million, according the company’s S-1 filing.

Social Capital follows with 50.8 million, or 10.1 percent ownership, and SoftBank has 7.3 percent, or 36.6 million shares.

Other venture investors include Kleiner Perkins, SV Angel, Index Ventures, GV and IVP.