Australian software success story and former Smart 50 finalist Atlassian has acquired San Francisco-based Hall, a team chat messaging app for businesses, for an undisclosed amount.
Hall, which allows teams to real-time chat and collaborate, will be taken into Atlassian’s stable within its HipChat division, the company’s team communications platform.
It is the latest acquisition for Atlassian, the $US215 million ($270 million) company founded by Aussies Scott Farquhar and Mike Cannon-Brookes in 2002.
Bernardo de Albergaria, vice president and general manager of collaboration at Atlassian, told SmartCompany the deal, which has been in the works for the last few months, will strengthen Atlassian’s push into the mobile space.
“We’re really excited about this space. The amount of growth we are seeing and our competitors are seeing is just unprecedented,” says de Albergaria.
He says HipChat’s growth has been exponential since Atlassian acquired it in 2012 – jumping from one billion messages in the first years of operations to five billion in the last six months.
“Mobile is not a fad, it is here to stay,” he says.
“We do believe this is the way internal team communication will evolve for every single company.”
While not aiming to take over the humble email, de Albergaria says mobile messaging apps for business drastically reduce the “inefficient” use of emails and internal communication.
Until recently, HipChat has largely appealed to technical teams, such as developers, but de Albergaria says Hall’s “beautiful” interface will help make the platform more appealing to a broader range of businesses.
“We have consolidated our forces to make a beautiful experience for everyone,” he says.
Another drawcard for Atalssian was Hall’s personnel, according to De Albergaria, including its engineers, developers and product managers, who will now all come across to HipCat this Monday.
He says Atlassian has successfully used a combination of organic and acquisition growth to underpin its success and will continue to look at further takeovers as a part of its growth strategy.
Kirsten Robb is a former journalist at SmartCompany. Previously, she worked at News Corp as a property reporter for Leader Newspapers and the Herald Sun, and holds a Masters of Journalism at Melbourne University.
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