The fast-growing Sydney-headquartered firm was founded by University of New South Wales computer programmers Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar in 2002.

Both aged 35, the pair are already the richest Australians under 40 on the BRW Young Rich list, estimated to be worth a combined $2.3 billion. A successful IPO could catapult them into the 20 wealthiest Australians, given they currently own 74.4 per cent of the company.

The two co-founders will retain control of Atlassian after the stock market listing, through a dual-class shareholder structure similar to that used by the Murdoch family at News Corporation.

The preliminary 233-page prospectus lodged to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sheds light on Atlassian's finances and international operations.

The project management software and chat tool producer collected $US319.5 million in revenue in financial 2015 and has delivered 47 per cent compound annual revenue growth over the past three years.

The enterprise software company has been profitable for the past decade, including net income of $US10.8 million, $US19.0 million and $US6.8 million for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2013, 2014 and 2015.

Atlassian boasts 51,000 customers across 160 countries, including 79 of the Fortune 100 businesses as well as NASA to help design the Mars Rover, Cochlear to develop aural implants and Runkeeper to create GPS fitness tracking applications.


The IPO price and expected proceeds from the offering have not yet been disclosed. A maximum aggregate offering of $US250 million was nominated, but is only a notional figure at this stage.

Atlassian has filed for an IPO on the NASDAQ exchange. Fairfax

Wall Street banks Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are underwriting the stock sale.

The decision to list under the stock ticker TEAM harks back to Atlassian's origins, when it was set up to help software teams work better together.

In a draft IPO letter to prospective investors, signed off by "Mike and Scott", the co-chief executives state that "Atlassian's mission is to unleash the potential in every team".

"Our products help teams organise, discuss and complete their work. And what teams do can change the world," they said.

"We have an incredible opportunity to help millions more teams in organisations across nearly every industry. Teamwork is hard. We make it easier."

They spruik that Atlassian has won awards for being the best place to work in Australia and talk about the 1300 global staff, or "Atlassians", in their team.


Unlike traditional software providers, Atlassian's products are designed to help developers collaborate with other non-developer teams involved in software innovation. Its enterprise software products include JIRA for team planning and project management, Confluence for team content creation and sharing, HipChat for team messaging and communications, Bitbucket for team code sharing and management.

The colourful preliminary prospectus emphasises that Atlassian's culture is exemplified by its "core values":

• Open Company, No Bullsh*t

• Build with Heart and Balance

• Don't #@!% the Customer

• Play, as a Team

• Be the Change You Seek

Atlassian, reportedly valued at $3.3 billion in April last year by a small number of institutions who participated in a private fundraising round, will operate a dual-class share structure once it becomes a public traded company.


Messrs Cannon-Brookes and Farquhar, as well as their affiliates, will maintain strong control over the company and voting rights via 155.8 million Class B ordinary shares. The Class B shares are entitled to ten votes for every Class A share sold to investors in the public offering. The proportional split of the voting power is yet to be revealed.

An Atlassian spokeswoman declined to comment in response to an interview request. Strict SEC rules restrict companies from talking publicly about IPO details in the early stages.

Atlassian generated free cash flow of $US65.5 million in 2015. About half of the firm's $US319.5 million in annual revenue is derived from maintenance, with the remainder split between subscriptions and licences.

Underlining Atlassian's commitment to long-term investment, it ploughed $US140.8 million into research and development last year, more than double its sales and marketing costs. Unique for software firms, it distributes and sells products online without traditional sales infrastructure via a low-cost self services sales model.

The surprise departure of outgoing CFO Mr Bardman, a former General Electric and eBay executive, was related to matters with a past employer and not related to his work at Atlassian, the company said in a statement on its website.

Mr Bardman's former employer, Swiss-based Logitech International, has been investigated for accounting irregularities. He will receive a severance payment from Atlassian of $US175,000, but will miss out on potential lucrative equity rewards. He is due to provide transitional services to the company until November 20, according to a separate Atlassian disclosure filed to the SEC.

Atlassian's planned listing, likely to occur before the end of the year, comes at a challenging time as cautious investors pull back from buying shares in emerging tech companies on public markets, amid concerns of a potential valuation bubble. A fast-growing, profitable company like Atlassian may be able to turn around the sentiment, US investors said.

Atlassian's main offices are in Sydney and San Francisco, plus operations in Austin in Texas, Amsterdam, Yokohama and Manila. It has more than five million active users.