Al Gore’s Generation leads $75m investment in Dustin Moskovitz’s Asana

31 Jan 2018

Al Gore on stage at Slush 2017. Image: Petri Anttila/Slush Media/Flickr (All rights reserved)

Asana gets a welcome boost from Al Gore’s Generation.

Workplace productivity player Asana has raised $75m in an investment led by Al Gore’s London-based sustainable investment firm Generation.

The investment values Asana at more than $900m, accelerating the company toward unicorn status.

Also backed by Facebook, Asana has more than 30,000 paying customers including Tesco, Sky, Uber, Danone, Chanel, Santander, Spotify, Uber and IBM as well as organisations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Khan Academy.

Asana employs around 20 people at its EMEA headquarters in Dublin and, according to sources, it has plans to grow the operation. Other backers of the company include Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, 8VC and Sam Altman.

Productivity for a new generation

Asana, a rival to platforms such as Trello, is a work management app that gives teams a simple way to manage and track their projects and processes. It employs 300 people worldwide in San Francisco, New York and Dublin.

In a world where workers spend 28pc of their time managing email, about 80pc of Asana’s customers say the platform gives their team increased clarity and accountability.

Al Gore’s Generation focuses on accelerating sustainable companies with products and services aligned with a clean, healthy, fair and safe society, in particular those capable of enhancing quality of life.

Asana’s mission is to help humanity thrive by enabling all teams to work together effortlessly.

Colin le Duc, one of the firm’s other co-founders and partner of Generation, will join also join Asana’s board of directors.

Al Gore on stage at Slush 2017. Image: Petri Anttila/Slush Media/Flickr (All rights reserved)

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com