INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Workplace productivity toolmaker Asana announced late Monday that they have confidentially filed their S-1 and said in a statement that they
plan to enter the public markets via a direct listing.Direct listings enable a company to go public without issuing new shares, instead
allowing existing shareholders to sell shares on the chosen exchange
Direct listings have been an awfully hot topic as of late, seen as a means of reducing the friction and expenses of going public
Slack debuted publicly via a direct listing in 2019 and Spotify did the same the year before
Airbnb has also reportedly expressed interest in a direct listing.Asana, co-founded by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and Justin
Rosenstein, builds productivity software that allows teams to assign tasks, track progress and set deadlines for projects.Direct listings
have been lauded by many in Silicon Valley as a way to strip from the process the steep bank underwriting fees, lengthy roadshows and some
Last year, venture capitalist Bill Gurley hosted a one-day conference devoted to preaching the gospel of direct listings
The New York Stock Exchange filed paperwork in November to the SEC, hoping to expand direct listings and allow companies pursuing them to
raise new capital during the process
The proposal was rejected weeks later, though the NYSE seems determined to double down on efforts to evolve the direct listing process.Asana
is interestingly a much smaller company than Slack or Spotify, and has raised much less capital
The startup has raised about $213 million according to Crunchbase
In late 2018, Asana raised a $50 million Series E at a $1.5 billion valuation
Debuting via a public listing suggests that the company may be satisfied with the cash it has on hand.
