Atlassian, a prominent provider of team collaboration and productivity software, has announced entering into a definitive agreement to acquire Loom, the popular video messaging platform. The deal values the over 25Mn+ users’ platform at nearly $1Bn.
This strategic move by Atlassian is significant in the context of the ongoing global shift towards distributed work. With remote work becoming the norm, teams need effective ways to collaborate when they are not physically present in the same location or time zone. Asynchronous video has taken the forefront in facilitating this kind of collaboration.
“Loom’s leadership in async video combined with Atlassian’s deep understanding of team collaboration means we can bring innovation to the market and empower our customers to collaborate in richer, more human ways,” stated Atlassian, in their announcement.
Atlassian is renowned for offering solutions for planning, tracking, and task completion. The addition of Loom to Atlassian’s portfolio is expected to enhance the collaboration experience for teams across various domains. This acquisition will enable engineers to visually log issues in Jira, leaders to connect with employees through videos, sales teams to send personalised video updates to clients, and HR teams to onboard new employees with customised welcome videos.
The integration of AI investments from both Atlassian and Loom will allow customers to smoothly transition between video content, video transcripts, summaries, documents, and the workflows derived from them. This integration offers multiple avenues for teams to connect and collaborate effectively.
From Loom’s perspective, this acquisition presents an opportunity to benefit from Atlassian’s platform and portfolio of products. Loom’s async video capabilities can be seamlessly incorporated into critical workflows in Jira and systems of record in Confluence, which is expected to be a game-changer for Loom’s users.
Loom, founded in 2016, is a video messaging platform that focuses on helping users communicate more effectively through instantly shareable videos. The platform is designed for ease of use, allowing users to record their desktop screen, camera, and microphone simultaneously, creating valuable institutional knowledge. With features like AI-generated titles, summaries, chapters, and tasks, Loom videos become essential company knowledge resources that can be shared, reused, and self-served across teams.
Financial details of the transaction indicate that Atlassian will acquire Loom for approximately $975 million, inclusive of Loom’s cash balance. The acquisition includes around $880 million in cash and the remaining amount in Atlassian equity awards, subject to vesting provisions. Atlassian plans to fund the cash portion using its existing cash balances. The transaction is slated to close in the third quarter of Atlassian’s fiscal year 2024, subject to customary closing conditions and necessary regulatory approvals.
