Atlassian to go public after 10 years of profitability

Australian software company Atlassian has formalised plans to be listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange in the United States when it filed for an initial public offering on Tuesday.

With the intention to list its common stock on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol "TEAM", Atlassian has proposed that it will offer Class A and Class B ordinary shares as part of plans to raise up to $250 million (AU$354.56 million). However, the number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not been determined.

"This public offering will also be the first time in our 13-year history that Atlassian will raise any external financing," the company said.

The team behind tools including JIRA and HipChat said it intends to use the proceeds from the IPO for working capital, operating expenses, and capital expenditures, as well as to acquire other businesses, products, services, and technologies.

In filing its F-1 document with the US Securities Exchange Commission, Atlassian revealed the company has maintained profitability for the last 10 years.

The company highlighted that between fiscal 2013 and 2015 the compound annual growth rate was 46.7 percent, resulting in the achievement of $319.5 million in total revenue for fiscal 2015. Just over 50 percent of the company's revenue for FY15 was a result of maintenance charges.

The company's financial statement also showed between FY14 and FY15 it nearly doubled its investment in research and development, and as a result total operating expenses increased from $155.6 million to $266.2 million during the two financial years. Operating income dipped to $0.4 million in FY15 from $21.5 million in FY14.

The filed document also showed that co-founders Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar continue to each maintain a 37.7 percent share in the company. The exact valuation of Atlassian is still unknown, but it was reportedly valued at $3.3 billion in April last year.

Accel Partners still holds a 12.7 percent interest in the company, which it purchased for $60 million in 2010.

In April, Atlassian acquired French video conferencing firm, Blue Jimp, for an undisclosed amount.

Following the acquisition of Blue Jimp, the firm bought chat and messaging app Hall in a bid to support the HipChat platform.

With AAP