Atlassian launches $50M venture fund to propel the cloud-based startup ecosystem
Atlassian Corporation and the maker of Jira has announced the launch of Atlassian Ventures, a new US$50 million fund that will invest into the up-and-coming startups, including established companies that are building products in the overall Atlassian ecosystem. The company which set up its world-class R&D centre in Bangalore last year and with plans to expand it further, is keen to interest India’s vibrant startup ecosystem and rich technical talent pool.
Atlassian Ventures, with the objective of supporting cloud-based products and services will invest in three types of companies. Firstly, the early-stage startups, who are building apps for any of Atlassian’s cloud products, whether it be – Jira, Confluence, Bitbucket or Trello. Secondly, the larger, more established ecosystem product partners scaling their businesses. These investments will be made in partnership with institutional investors and will generally target series A onwards. And finally, the existing sales channel partners looking to step up their cloud services and create new products that support the future of teamwork.
On the company being extremely bullish about the India market, Dinesh Ajmera, Site Lead and Head of Engineering, Bengaluru, Atlassian said, “Atlassian Ventures is a global program with the objective of supporting cloud-based products and services and unleashing the potential of teams all over the world. With India’s cloud market among the largest in the Asia Pacific region, we believe this fund will be an ideal opportunity for up-and-coming startups in India to access funding when building apps for our cloud products. India is a significant market for Atlassian, one that’s teeming with an extraordinary developer community and a vibrant startup ecosystem that we plan to tap into.”
“We have kept the applications open to our existing Marketplace Partners and developers, as well as new-to-Atlassian app developers who are looking for the first funding for their start-ups. As part of this program, companies that receive funding are also eligible for mentorship as well as global exposure at Atlassian events,” he further added.
