Asana Says It’s Filed to Go Public Through a Direct Listing

(Bloomberg) -- Asana Inc., a corporate software maker started by a Facebook Inc. co-founder, said it confidentially filed to register its shares for a public listing that would avoid a traditional initial public offering.

Asana said in a statement Monday that its draft registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission relates to “the proposed public listing of its common stock.” Such announcements typically specify the company is planning an IPO, when that is the case.

“The public listing is expected to take place after the SEC completes its review process, subject to market and other conditions,” according to the statement.

A representative for Asana confirmed the San Francisco-based company is planning on a direct listing and declined to comment further.

Direct listings have been touted as a way for companies that don’t need to raise new capital to go public, while also saving on fees paid to banks and allowing current investors to sell shares without waiting for a lock-up period to expire. So far, direct listings have been used by only two major companies, Spotify Technology SA and Slack Technologies Inc.

Dustin Moskovitz, a Facebook co-founder, started Asana in 2008 with Justin Rosenstein. The company makes productivity and task management software for businesses. Its investors have included Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan. Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore also has been a backer.

--With assistance from Lizette Chapman.

To contact the reporters on this story: Liana Baker in New York at lbaker75@bloomberg.net;Nikitha Sattiraju in New York at nsattiraju@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Liana Baker at lbaker75@bloomberg.net, ;Molly Schuetz at mschuetz9@bloomberg.net, Michael Hytha, Matthew Monks

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