SYDNEY–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Atlassian, leader in software tools for streamlining product development, today announced the closing of a USD $60M investment from Accel Partners for a minority equity position. Rich Wong, Partner at Accel Partners, will join Atlassian’s board of directors. The funds will fuel Atlassian’s continued leadership in software development and enterprise collaboration tools, through accelerated expansion into Europe and Asia and additional focus on M&A to add complementary products to the Atlassian portfolio. The investment will also be used to facilitate liquidity for employees.
Atlassian was co-founded in 2002 by Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar in Sydney, Australia with the goal of changing the way the world manages product development. The self-funded company has been profitable since its inception, and until this round has received no outside financing. Mike and Scott will continue as co-CEOs of Atlassian. Atlassian has 225 employees based in Australia, North America and Europe.
A Platform for the Modern Development Team
Atlassian creates on-premises and hosted software development tools to help teams of all shapes and sizes – from Fortune 500 companies to early-stage startups and governments/non-profits – accelerate product development. Atlassian’s products include the popular issue tracker (Jira), enterprise wiki (Confluence) and a range of tools specifically for software developers. The entire portfolio helps teams at every stage of the development process, from creating an initial concept to launching the product and supporting each customer. Atlassian’s tools help teams track issues and projects, collaborate on design requirements and specs, find and review code, improve testing and build management, and more.
A Who’s-Who List of Innovative Customers
Atlassian’s products are used by over 20,000 customers in 134 countries, from a wide variety of industries. The company’s customer roster reads like a who’s-who of category and market-leaders, with both current and future titans of industry. Atlassian’s customers include:
- ten of the Global Software Top 10, including Microsoft, Oracle
- seven of the 10 largest global companies, including Shell & Toyota
- all 10 of the Top 10-ranked universities in the United States, including Harvard, Stanford, Yale, MIT
- seven of the 10 largest mobile telecommunications companies, including Nokia, Verizon, AT&T
- five of the Top 5 online retailers, including Amazon, Best Buy
- four of the Top 5 game development companies, including Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Vivendi
- eighteen of FastCompany’s 25 Most Innovative Companies, including Facebook, Novartis, Netflix
- several of the largest and most active opensource software projects, including Apache, JBoss, Zend
In addition to these 20,000 enterprise customers, Atlassian customers include tens of thousands of future category leaders and market- makers, at multiple stages of their growth, through Atlassian Starter Licenses.
A Unique Approach to Selling Software
Atlassian sells its enterprise products direct to customers online. Unlike most traditional enterprise software companies, Atlassian does not have a commissioned sales force or a consulting practice. In a world still dominated by complex and inexplicably-pricey enterprise software, Atlassian has focused on refreshing simplicity and affordability. Pricing starts at just $10 for 10-user teams, with proceeds of these “Starter licenses” donated to charity. All Atlassian products are freely available to try for 30 days.
“We’ve been on a change-the-world mission since we started. We believe great enterprise software shouldn’t cost an arm-and-a-leg, shouldn’t need a salesperson to explain how it works, and shouldn’t need an army of consultants to get working,” said Mike Cannon- Brookes, Atlassian co-founder and CEO. “With 20,000 customers, we’ve barely made a dent in our mission to have every development team use at least one of our products. We’re excited to have a partner like Accel help us get there.”
Accel Partners is a leading global venture capital and growth equity firm, providing funding from seed-stage to growth-stage companies. Accel Partners has worked with leading entrepreneurs to help build innovative industry leaders such as AdMob, Facebook, GroupOn, Kayak.com, Macromedia, Veritas, and many others.
“We’ve been fans of Atlassian for years, and the vast majority of our portfolio companies innovate using Atlassian products,” said Rich Wong, Partner at Accel Partners. “We had a front-row seat to how Atlassian’s products help other companies build great software, and that got us excited to help Atlassian reach new markets and audiences. We’re fans of Atlassian’s unique culture, their incredible execution and the continued opportunity in front of them. We look forward to remaining a long-term partner in their quest to help software developers and technical teams everywhere deliver great products.”
About Atlassian Software
Atlassian is an Australian software company specialising in software development and collaboration tools. More than 20,000 organisations of all sizes use Atlassian’s issue tracking, collaboration and software development tools to work smarter and deliver quality results on time. Through its “1%” model, and its commitment to the betterment of society and the environment, Atlassian dedicates 1% of revenue, equity and employee time to the Atlassian Foundation for charitable contributions and projects. Learn more at http://www.atlassian.com.
About Accel Partners
Founded in 1983, Accel Partners is a venture capital and growth equity firm dedicated to partnering with outstanding entrepreneurs to build world-class businesses. Accel invests globally using dedicated teams in each local geography, with offices in Palo Alto, London, New Delhi, Bangalore as well as in China via the IDG-Accel Partnership. With over $6 billion under management, Accel has helped entrepreneurs build over 300 successful companies, including Acopia, AdMob, Alfresco, Arrowpoint, BBN, Brightcove, ComScore, Etsy, Facebook, Gameforge, GlamMedia, Groupon, Interwoven, Kayak, Macromedia, metroPCS, NextG Networks, Polycom/PictureTel, Portal Software, QlikTech, Real Networks, Riverbed, UUNet, Veritas, Walmart.com, Webroot, XenSource and Zimbra. For more information, please find us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/accel.