Atlassian eyes channel expansion after magical IPO

Debut of Australian 'unicorn' on NASDAQ yesterday reportedly created more than 100 millionaires

Atlassian, the Australian software firm whose IPO yesterday reportedly created more than 100 millionaires, indicated it is gearing up for channel expansion on the back of its public debut.

The SaaS vendor, whose offering is designed to help software teams collaborate with non-developer teams involved in software innovation, raised a cool $462m as it took the plunge on the NASDAQ yesterday, making it the year's second-biggest tech IPO.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, as of last night more than 100 Atlassian staff were either millionaires or multimillionaires after the Sydney-based outfit's market cap skyrocketed during the first day's trading from $4.4bn to $5.7bn.

Unlike many of the so-called tech "unicorns", Atlassian claims to have been profitable for 10 years, posting a profit of $7m on revenues of $320m in its fiscal 2015.

Atlassian has made overtures to the UK channel in the past and in its IPO prospectus the vendor revealed that about 25 per cent of sales come through indirect channels.

"We plan to continue to invest in our partner programmes to help us enter and grow in new markets, complementing our automated, low-tech approach," it said.

Atlassian is the second-biggest tech IPO of the year behind only Fitbit, which raised $732m through its New York debut in June.