Atlassian Acquires Developer Productivity Platform DX for $1 Billion
Atlassian’s Biggest Acquisition: DX Joins the Suite for $1B
Atlassian has officially announced its largest acquisition to date, acquiring developer productivity platform DX for $1 billion in cash and restricted stock. This move aims to enhance Atlassian’s product suite by providing deeper insights into engineering productivity for enterprise customers.
Why Did Atlassian Choose DX?
Founded five years ago by Abi Noda and Greyson Junggren, DX focuses on helping organizations analyze and improve the productivity of their software engineering teams. The platform combines both qualitative and quantitative data, helping companies identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies without making developers feel surveilled or micromanaged.
After several years of developing its own productivity insight tool, Atlassian decided to look externally for a solution. According to Atlassian co-founder and CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes, DX stood out because over 90% of its customers already used Atlassian’s other tools, such as Jira and Confluence. This synergy made DX a natural fit for integration.
DX’s Rapid Growth and Customer Base
Since emerging from stealth in 2022, DX has seen impressive growth, tripling its customer base each year and now serving over 350 enterprise clients, including well-known names like ADP, Adyen, and GitHub. Remarkably, DX achieved this scale with less than $5 million in venture funding—a testament to its product-market fit and operational efficiency.
What Does This Mean for Atlassian Users?
- DX’s analytics will be integrated directly into Atlassian’s product ecosystem.
- Customers will gain end-to-end visibility into engineering productivity, from diagnosing issues to implementing solutions via Atlassian’s tools.
- The acquisition is timely, given the rapid adoption of AI tools and the growing need to measure their impact on team performance and budgets.
Cultural Alignment and Vision
Both companies share a similar philosophy, having grown rapidly with minimal outside funding. Cannon-Brookes noted a cultural affinity for Utah-based startups (DX is headquartered in Salt Lake City) and highlighted the mutual goal of delivering actionable insights that drive real business outcomes.
Abi Noda, co-founder of DX, echoed this sentiment, stating that integrating with Atlassian will offer customers a "full flywheel"—from diagnosing productivity issues to addressing them with Atlassian’s robust suite of solutions.
The Bigger Picture: Atlassian’s Expansion
This acquisition follows Atlassian’s recent purchase of AI-browser developer The Browser Company earlier in September, signaling a strategic push to enhance its capabilities with both AI and productivity insights.
