Workplace app Asana Inc on Monday unveiled plans to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange through a direct listing, adding to a growing number of tech companies debuting this year.
Asana, which was last valued at about $1.5 billion and counts Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel among its largest backers, had confidentially filed here to go public earlier this year.
Asana’s move would mark yet another high-profile direct tech listing, after music-streaming business Spotify Technology SA pioneered the method in 2018 and communications platform Slack Technologies Inc followed in 2019.
Both Spotify and Slack had successful market debuts, but their share prices have struggled since. As opposed to a traditional initial public offering (IPO), a direct listing does not raise fresh funds. In a direct-listing model, existing investors get to monetize their shares.
Palantir Technologies, another Thiel-backed company, is also expected to go public through a direct listing later this year.
Asana was founded in 2008 by Facebook Inc co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and a former Google and Facebook engineer, Justin Rosenstein.
Other than Moskovitz and Rosenstein, who together hold 56.5% of the total voting power in the company, Asana counts hedge fund Benchmark Capital and funds linked to former U.S. vice president Al Gore among its top stockholders.
Source: Reuters
