When Atlassian rang the Nasdaq bell back in 2015 it was hailed as a watershed moment for the local tech industry. One of the biggest liquidity events for the local ecosystem since then will take place in a matter of weeks — and it’s not even an IPO.
Canva’s early employees and investors are set to reap USD1.5 billion ($2.3 billion) in a secondary share sale that would value the company at around $US26 billion. By comparison, Atlassian raised USD462 million in its IPO in a deal that valued it at USD4.4 billion. A lot has changed since then.
While Atlassian’s IPO made about 100 or so employees instant millionaires and at least two people (co-founders Scott Farquhar and Mike Cannon-Brookes) billionaires, one key part of the local ecosystem was conspicuously absent from that moment — Australian VC funds.
Atlassian had no Australian VC money behind it, because no such money existed.
