Capital Raising Journey Report

This report details the capital raising journey of Atlassian, a software company founded by two college friends. It covers the company's history, valuation, capital raising strategies, and current market standing. The report highlights various fundraising methods, including crowdfunding and venture capital, and discusses the importance of market research and understanding business environment factors for successful growth. Atlassian's evolution from a small startup to a leading multinational workplace is emphasized, showcasing their innovative approaches to funding and product development.

Capital Raising Journey Report

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
History.........................................................................................................................................3
Founded and Valuation...............................................................................................................4
Capital raising History................................................................................................................4
Present standing..........................................................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7
Appendix..........................................................................................................................................8

Introduction
Capital raising means to obtain money for continuing daily operations of the company.
The organisations mainly raise funds if they face shortage of money or they are not able to pay
their debts (Khawaja, Bhatti and Ashraf, 2019). The fund is raised for the growth and
development of business. This report is based on capital raising journey, it include the History of
Atlassian a company which is located in Sydney and produce a software products. The
foundation and valuation of the company, its capital raising history and its present standing in the
market. The company is owned by two friends of same college and they never knew that they
will get successful in future. The aim of Atlassian is to produce an inexpensive software products
that can be easily accessible by the organisations (Kennedy, 2020).
History
Atlassian is a dream of two college friends, Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar
they both were in the same college and studied computer science from University of New South
Wales. The friends even don't know how the company will survive, what it is going to be but
they knew what to do they have to work keeping in mind the laws, rules or standards. Atlassian
has launched its first product Jira 1.0. in 2002, it is a software and issue tracking product (Li,
2019). After success of Jira it is risky to build a new product as they focus on a single product
only and it is quite difficult to divide resources for the other product it could also failed due to
any negligence but the company had faith as the clients like Jira they would also prefer the other
product produce by Atlassian. In 2004, the company launched Confluence it is a platform that
helps user to work together collectively on different projects and can share their documents. The
sale of Jira and Confluence were growing successfully, the company has taken a great move to
expand their business they have enough capital instead of that, the organisation purchased a
products of other companies who are successful in the market. By, making an early acquisition
of products from other business, they face a lack of fund but they have generated a lot of revenue
by Freemium Sales Model. The company has nine offices that are in different countries with
4,907 employees. In 2011, Jay Simons became the president of Atlassian and the company
announce Bonfire renamed as Jira Capture. In 2012, Atlassian has obtain Hipchat, it is a
messenger which is used for workplace environment. The company has also announced a service
desk for Jira product which guide the customers by providing full service and solve their issues

(Knowles, 2018). In 2017, the company has also purchased Trello and launched Stride, it is a
web chat which is an alternative of Slack. The company sold their product Hip chat and stride to
its competitor Slack, they have also decide to end the chat business and took a small stake in
Slack. The company is successful without taking any venture capital because they didn't have
any sales team for selling a product they have their own website in which the user can avail 30
day free trial and then gave an option to get paid for the services (Doukoure and Mnkandla,
2018).
Founded and Valuation
The company was founded in 2002, with a credit card debt. The Headquarters of
Atlassian is in Sydney, Australia. The company has started with a finance of $10,000 (Tay,
2014).
Capital raising History
The company has started their business with credit card debt, In 2010 the company took a
fund from Accel as they have shortage of money and they need the fund desperately. Atlassian
has planned to use this amount in to their acquisitions and growth. The organisation didn't raised
the fund as they have built a model for the businesses and also win the market with useful tools.
Atlassian has raised its IPO at $21 per share from its previous shares range. The investors have a
positive aspects towards the company as they saves a money on marketing the product and offers
a free product trials.
Present standing
At present Atlassian has voted for one of the Best Multinational Workplace and welcome
new member in its family Halp. The company also publish its first sustainability report, in 2020.
Atlassian also launched Teamistry and Jira Service Management, it is the next step of Jira
Service Desk. In 2019, the organisation has occupied the AgileCraft and renamed as Jira align,
they have also finished acquisition of Code Barrel (Vieiro, 2018). Atlassian announced to exit
their server products and they will focus on Cloud and Data Centre editions.
Market potential for new ventures
There are various key elements which have to consider while evaluating marketing potential they
are as follows-
 Research competitors and customers-

The company has to conduct the market research before establishing a new venture in the market
as research helps to evaluate whether the demand for items in market is genuine or not and even
the organisation get to know if they are expanding into new market it is worthwhile for them.
The company must target a particular segment of customers on the basis of their age, education,
gender, income, etc.
 Understand the market-
For company it is not enough to know about its competitors and customers they should also
know about the market trends and its potential. The organisation should know whether they
could be successful in the market. The researcher should know about the market size, barriers,
their buyers, competitors and many other factors.
 Explore new opportunities-
The company should also keep focusing on new opportunities, through which they can gain a
high profit and can increase their growth. It is a winning strategy for the businesses. So, it is
important for an organisation to grab the new opportunities.
 Understand business environment factors-
Business environment factors are the external factors which affect the companies overall
performance. The organisation have to study the business environment factors to overcome the
problems which arises and influences its functioning. The business environment factors are as
technological factor, political, legal, economical, trade policies, social factor and many more.
 Market research-
Market research helps to gather the information of market size, market forecast, consumers
demographic, market share, etc. The researcher makes a report through which the company can
understand about business environment, competitors, industry and customers. Businesses mainly
hire a researcher for evaluating and analysing the market.
Various Capital Fundraising methods and strategies
There are various capital fundraising methods and strategies they are outlined below-
 Crowdfunding-
Crowdfunding is one of the best method to raise funds from public. The organisation have to
make a video spread their words to people and make hope that it will spread across globe. The
crowdfunding will be successful if the company will offer a product in respect of fund. It is just

like a donation and attracts several donors quickly and easily. The fund can be raise for any
particular project or for any unforeseen needs (Yin, Liu and Mirkovski, 2019).
 Venture capital funds-
Venture Capital Funds involves raising capital by selling shares. To raise the money from
venture capital the company have to make a business plan with proper market research and also
have to grab an opportunity to pitch for the fund.
 Bank and credit unions-
If the company have to raise the fund they can also take a loan from bank or credit union, it is
secure funding method. The organisation can take a small business loan for their projects to
accomplish their objectives and goals.
 Angel Investors-
Angel investors are the one who invest in a new start up business in exchange for ownership
equity in the organisation. They invest in a company by providing start-up capital and make
investment by paying one time payment. They are like a family members who sees a value in
the start up company.
 Internationally fund raised-
The organisation can raise the funds internationally, as there are different countries who help
start up companies to grow and also provide them fund. There are many firms that provide
information across globe related to financial issues and problems.
Conclusion
From above given information it is been concluded that, the company have started from
small business and now it is one of the successful organisation in the market. To start a business
there are various market potentials which should be identified by the company so that they many
not face any complications while starting up the business. The company can also raise fund for
their start up by crowdfunding, internationally fund raising, angel investors, product selling and
many other method. The company face many challenges and barriers while starting up the
organisation they have look out and face the challenges for running successful businesses
operations. The organisation can also increase their growth and profitability by accepting and
overcoming the barriers.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Doukoure, G. A. K. and Mnkandla, E., 2018, August. Facilitating the management of agile and
devops activities: Implementation of a data consolidator. In 2018 International
Conference on Advances in Big Data, Computing and Data Communication Systems
(icABCD) (pp. 1-6). IEEE.
Filion, L and et. al., 2017, April. Using Atlassian tools for efficient requirements management:
An industrial case study. In 2017 Annual IEEE International Systems Conference
(SysCon) (pp. 1-6). IEEE.
Kennedy, L., 2020. Aussie buys in:: Mike Cannon-Brookes, the founder of software company
Atlassian, has become the first Australian to own an American basketball team.
Khawaja, M., Bhatti, M. I. and Ashraf, D., 2019. Ownership and control in a double decision
framework for raising capital. Emerging Markets Review. 41(C).
Knowles, B., 2018. Aubrey Blanche Atlassian global head of diversity. XRDS: Crossroads, The
ACM Magazine for Students. 25(1). pp.66-67.
Li, P., 2019. Jira 8 Essentials: Effective issue management and project tracking with the latest
Jira features. Packt Publishing Ltd.
Vieiro, G., 2018. How Atlassian Is Tackling Error Budgets, Agile Style.
Yin, C., Liu, L. and Mirkovski, K., 2019. Does more crowd participation bring more value to
crowdfunding projects? The perspective of crowd capital. Internet Research.
Online sources
Tay, L., 2014. ATLASSIAN -- THE UNTOLD STORY. [Online]. Available
through:<https://www.businessinsider.com.au/atlassian-the-untold-story-how-two-
australian-young-guns-built-a-company-headed-for-a-billion-dollar-ipo-2014-2>.

Appendix