Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz is reportedly looking at a direct listing for his $1.5 billion startup Asana to go public next year

Asana

Asana cofounders Justin Rosenstein and Dustin Moskovitz

• The productivity software startup Asana is planning to go public next year and looking at a direct listing, the Financial Times' Miles Kruppa reported.
• Asana, co-founded by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, is valued at $1.5 billion and has crossed $100 million in annual recurring revenue.
• Both Slack and Spotify did a direct listing when they went public, and Airbnb is also looking at doing the same when it goes public next year.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The $1.5 billion productively software startup Asana, is looking at a direct listing as it plans to go public next year, the Financial Times' Miles Kruppa reported on Friday.

Asana, which was co-founded by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, announced earlier this year that it has crossed $100 million in annual recurring revenue, growing over 90% in revenue last year. It was valued at $1.5 billion after raising a $50 million round last December.

Asana has hired Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase to advise on its listing and could execute a private share sale to raise money without an IPO, but it may still pursue the traditional IPO route, the Financial Times reported.

Both Slack and Spotify used a direct listing when they went public, which allowed them to make shares available on the public market without fundraising. Since it's a more streamlined process than an IPO, it typically means lower fees for the banks involved. Airbnb is also looking at a direct listing when it goes public next year.

As direct listings become more popular in Silicon Valley, Bank of America has become a proponent of them.

Asana declined comment on this.

While Asana initially started as a hit among small startups, Moskovitz said that his company has been focusing on growing its international presence as well as building products for specific sectors and for large businesses. Just August, Asana launched Workload, which allows teams to track and redistribute work and aims to reduce worker burnout.

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