Atlassian acquires the enterprise video messaging platform Loom for an approximate sum of $1 billion.
Today, the renowned Australian enterprise software giant Atlassian has officially announced its acquisition of the asynchronous video messaging platform Loom for a staggering $975 million. This monumental deal stands as one of the largest in this category, significantly broadening Atlassian’s software portfolio. This portfolio already encompasses prominent work-centric collaboration tools such as Jira, Confluence, and Trello. Atlassian has expressed its commitment to integrating Loom’s capabilities into these and other products, although a specific timeline for this integration has not been disclosed at this time.
Vinay Hiremath, co-founder and CTO of Loom, expressed his enthusiasm for the collaboration, stating that the synergies between the two companies will propel a substantial advancement in how teams collaborate. The integration of Atlassian and Loom is expected to create significant customer value, which would have taken considerably longer to achieve independently.
Loom’s Journey in the Asynchronous Video Space: Founded in 2016 by Joe Thomas Jr., Shahed Khan, and Vinay Hiremath, Loom initially established itself as an end-to-end asynchronous video messaging platform, providing enterprise users with an effortless means of collaboration and communication. Over time, the platform evolved, introducing new capabilities like browser extensions and integrations with platforms such as Slack, Gmail, and Asana. It secured over $200 million in funding through multiple rounds and achieved a valuation of over $1.5 billion following its series C round led by Andreessen Horowitz in 2021.
By the end of 2022, after the spike in COVID-19-related remote work, Loom boasted more than 18 million users, representing over 350,000 businesses. In the current year, the platform has experienced significant growth, with more than 7 million Loom recordings made every month, a substantial increase from the 1 million recorded in 2019. Recently, Loom introduced AI-based features, including transcription in 50 languages and generative titles and summaries.
Atlassian’s Long-Standing Presence in Work Collaboration: On the other hand, Atlassian has a well-established presence in the work collaboration space. Each platform in its portfolio targets a distinct aspect of work. For example, Jira aids in tracking issues or tasks through a customizable workflow, while Confluence facilitates efficient team collaboration and knowledge sharing. With a market capitalization exceeding $49 billion, Atlassian collaborates with a vast array of clients, including the majority of the Fortune 500 and over 260,000 companies of various sizes worldwide, such as NASA, Kiva, Deutsche Bank, and Salesforce.
Anticipated Benefits of the Deal: With the inclusion of Loom under its umbrella, Atlassian envisions enhancing each of its products by integrating built-in video capabilities. This move is set to provide distributed knowledge workers with superior means of planning, tracking, and executing their work.
Async video, increasingly becoming a key communication tool alongside text, presentations, and spreadsheets, will play a pivotal role in this transformation. Loom’s leadership in asynchronous video, combined with Atlassian’s deep understanding of team collaboration, is expected to bring innovative solutions to the market, enabling customers to collaborate in more engaging and human-centered ways, as noted in a joint blog post by Atlassian co-founders Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar.
While the specifics of the integration remain to be unveiled, there are hints of what to expect. For example, engineers using Jira will have the capability to visually log issues. Leaders will be able to employ videos to connect with employees on a larger scale, sales teams can send customized video updates to clients within their workflows, and HR teams can onboard new employees with personalized welcome videos.
Furthermore, the combined investments of both companies in AI will enable enterprise users to seamlessly transition between video content, transcripts, summaries, documents, and the workflows derived from them.
The integration process is slated to commence after the deal’s closure, expected in the quarter ending in March 2024, while Loom will continue to be available as a standalone product.
