Public Markets

Asana Goes Public: Here Are The Big Winners 

Project management company Asana’s stock opened Wednesday at $27, nearly 29 percent higher than the reference price of $21 it had set.

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The San Francisco-based company stands out among a number of tech companies to go public this month in that it isn’t going public through a traditional IPO. Instead, it’s going public through a direct listing, the path taken by companies like Spotify and Slack. It closed out its first day of trading at $28.80.

Asana is one of two highly-anticipated companies to go public on Wednesday through a direct listing; Palantir is the other. Both have attracted venture capital from prominent investors and have been privately held for more than a decade. Now, the investors who bet early on the idea dreamed up by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and early Facebooker Justin Rosenstein are finally having their payday. Let’s take a look at who won big with Asana.

Benchmark

Benchmark holds 14,012,703 Class B shares, or about a 10.4 percent ownership stake in Asana. The firm, which led Asana’s $9 million Series A round in November 2009, invested early, so its stake in the company is the largest of the stockholders who aren’t executives or directors. At Wednesday’s opening price, Benchmark’s Class B shares are valued at more than $378.3 million.

Generation Investment Management

Generation Investment Management led Asana’s $75 million Series D in January 2018 and its $50 million Series E in November 2018, per Crunchbase. While it invested relatively late in the company, it still holds the second-largest amount of Class B shares of the stockholders who aren’t executives or directors. 

The firm holds 9,751,944 of Class B shares, or 7.3 percent. At $27 per share, the value of Generation Investment Management’s stake in Asana comes out to more than $263.3 million.

Founders Fund

Founders Fund led Asana’s $28 million Series B funding round in July 2012 and now holds 8,713,329 Class B shares. Wednesday’s opening price of $27 values the firm’s stake in the company at more than $235.2 million.

Illustration: Li-Anne Dias

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