• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Former Facebook Execs Raise $50 Million More for Latest Venture

By
Heather Clancy
Heather Clancy
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Heather Clancy
Heather Clancy
Down Arrow Button Icon
March 30, 2016, 11:00 AM ET
Asana co-founders Dustin Moskovitz and Justin Rosenstein
Asana co-founders Dustin Moskovitz and Justin RosensteinCourtesy of Asana

Collaboration software startup Asana, which counts Zappos and Uber among its biggest high-profile customers, has raised another $50 million in backing that more than doubles its last declared valuation, according to its two co-founders.

Asana was created in 2008 by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and well-respected software engineer Justin Rosenstein. Their mission: help people organize work activities and projects with a cloud software service that sidesteps email.

The Series C round was led by Y Combinator Sam Altman. The round includes both of them as new investors along with a long, who’s-who list of other first-time backers—most of whom use Asana’s software. Among those backers are Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale’s venture capital 8VC, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh (via VTF Capital), Groupon co-founder Andrew Mason, Elevation Partners founder Roger McNamee, and Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily technology newsletter.

The new money brings Asana’s total backing to $88 million. It boosts the company’s valuation to $600 million on “clean terms,” Moskovitz touted. The most recent stated figure was $280 million post-valuation following Asana’s $28 million Series B round, which was back in summer 2012, he added.

The collaboration software market is pretty broad, worth an estimated $50 billion in size encompassing everything from messaging services to file-sharing apps to project management frameworks like Asana.

“The product was born out of our own need to coordinate better: even when we worked at great companies like Google and Facebook, there were constant challenges keeping everyone on the same page, and a huge amount of time spent on work about work,” wrote Moskovitz and Rosenstein in a blog post about the funding.

Altman’s motivation was clearcut, boiling down to the product and the team. “I spend a lot of time talking to people who work at startups, and most employees feel like they don’t have a good sense of what specifically the company needs to get done and how all the tasks are going,” he wrote about the investment. “Better work tracking leads to better collaboration and better decision-making.”

The same, apparently, could also be said about larger, established companies. Since September 2015 when it introduced a massive redesign for its software, Asana has added close to 3,000 paying customers for a current total of 13,000. One example is the city of Providence, R.I., which has banished internal email in favor of the Asana service to organize tasks and meeting agendas. “I don’t know how any large organization functions without this,” said Mayor Jorge Elorza. “There is no way matters can slip through the cracks,” he added. Approximately 300 people in the Providence administration use the software, which costs it about $5,000 annually, Elorza said.

The startup boasts it is generating annual recurring revenue in the “low 10s of millions,” a figure it also cited six months ago. Asana expects to become profitable in the “next few years,” Moskovitz promised.

The new funds will go toward scaling Asana’s application and customer support organization so that the software can be used more easily across entire organizations, not just specific divisions, noted Rosenstein. Retailer Zappos, as just one example, uses Asana across its entire organization. The company has signed several other deals supporting more 1,000 seats, Moskovitz said.

Two other companies addressing the project management piece of the collaboration software market include Trello, which hopes to reach 20 million users by the end of 2016, and Atlassian (TEAM), which went public in December before the tech IPO window basically slammed shut.

About the Author
By Heather Clancy
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in

Danish military forces participate in an exercise with hundreds of troops from several European NATO members in the Arctic Ocean in Nuuk, Greenland, Monday, Sept. 15, 2025.
PoliticsDonald Trump
Danish intelligence report warns of U.S. economic leverage and military threat under Trump
By The Associated PressDecember 13, 2025
49 minutes ago
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gives a joint press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine in 2023 as European leaders visit the country 18 months after the start of Russia's invasion.
EuropeUkraine invasion
EU indefinitely freezes Russian assets to prevent Hungary and Slovakia from vetoing billions of euros being sent to support Ukraine
By Lorne Cook and The Associated PressDecember 13, 2025
54 minutes ago
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez often praises the financial and social benefits that immigrants bring to the country.
EuropeSpain
In a continent cracking down on immigration and berated by Trump’s warnings of ‘civilizational erasure,’ Spain embraces migrants
By Suman Naishadham and The Associated PressDecember 13, 2025
58 minutes ago
EconomyAgriculture
More financially distressed farmers are expected to lose their property soon as loan repayments and incomes continue to falter
By Jason MaDecember 13, 2025
2 hours ago
Middle EastMilitary
Trump pledges retaliation after 3 Americans are killed in Syria attack that the U.S. blames on the Islamic State group
By Samar Kassabali, Bassem Mroue, Seung Min Kim and The Associated PressDecember 13, 2025
3 hours ago
InvestingStock
There have been head fakes before, but this time may be different as the latest stock rotation out of AI is just getting started, analysts say
By Jason MaDecember 13, 2025
5 hours ago

Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Economy
Tariffs are taxes and they were used to finance the federal government until the 1913 income tax. A top economist breaks it down
By Kent JonesDecember 12, 2025
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Apple cofounder Ronald Wayne sold his 10% stake for $800 in 1976—today it’d be worth up to $400 billion
By Preston ForeDecember 12, 2025
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Success
40% of Stanford undergrads receive disability accommodations—but it’s become a college-wide phenomenon as Gen Z try to succeed in the current climate
By Preston ForeDecember 12, 2025
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
The Fed just ‘Trump-proofed’ itself with a unanimous move to preempt a potential leadership shake-up
By Jason MaDecember 12, 2025
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
For the first time since Trump’s tariff rollout, import tax revenue has fallen, threatening his lofty plans to slash the $38 trillion national debt
By Sasha RogelbergDecember 12, 2025
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Apple CEO Tim Cook out-earns the average American’s salary in just 7 hours—to put that into context, he could buy a new $439,000 home in just 2 days
By Emma BurleighDecember 12, 2025
1 day ago
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map

© 2025 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.