TECHNOLOGY

Software maker Atlassian acquires help message startup

Kara Carlson, kcarlson@statesman.com
Atlassian, which is one of Austin’s biggest software employers, has acquired Halp, a startup which makes a real-time messaging technology that automatically marks and tracks questions as service tickets. Halp founders, Fletcher Richman, Tristan Rubadeau, and Komran Rashidov are pictured from left to right. [Courtesy of Atlassian]

Software company Atlassian is expanding its product offerings by acquiring a Colorado-based startup that focuses on real-time messaging.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Atlassian, which is based in Australia, is one of Austin’s largest software employers. The company makes tools for technical workers to better collaborate and share information. It has 500 Austin-based employees.

Boulder, Colo.-based Halp makes a ticketing solution for Slack, a popular workplace collaboration platform. The product allows Slack users to make service requests in a message-based interface.

The company’s 14 employees will remain in Colorado while working closely with Atlassian’s Austin office, Atlassian said. Future team expansions will largely be in Austin, it said.

Halp’s products are designed to work with collaboration platforms to offer real-time messaging and an internal help-desk solution. The technology can turn any message sent on Slack into a formal service request, and track the progress and outcome. The technology is designed to help people with a variety of tasks, from getting on WiFi to hiring.

Steve Goldsmith, head of product integration for Atlassian, said the acquisition comes as companies look to virtual tools to stay organized and connected.

Messaging platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams also are increasingly popular as remote work becomes more common, he said, and as many employees work from home because of the coronavirus pandemic. In many ways, he said, such platforms have become the office itself.

“We're really excited that both of those trends are changing the way people are working,” Goldsmith said. “As a team, our specialty is to look at the places that people are working, and see how we can better serve them where they're working from.”

Halp’s tool formalizes processes that might already exist in channels on collaboration platforms for “help” or “human resources,” where users ask questions that may get lost or can be hard to track. The technology integrates directly into Slack and allows users to ask or flag any question by simply sending a ticket emoji with it. This marks the message as a service ticket they can track. It also can provide automatic answers based on Slack messages and organizational knowledge.

The company plans to develop versions of the tool for other popular collaboration platforms, including Microsoft Teams.

“The core of what we're trying to do is live within the behavior the user is used to instead of having to remember the portal or remember the email address to go and submit a ticket,” Halp founder Fletcher Richman said. “Now it’s right where you're already working on and communicating with your co-workers.”

Atlassian has had an existing relationship with Slack after forming a strategic partnership with the company in 2018. In a statement, Brad Armstrong, Slack vice president of business development and corporate development, said the company was “thrilled” about the acquisition.

“With its messaging-first approach to support ticketing, Halp is an outstanding tool for any team already collaborating in Slack channels. We see enormous opportunities in building this business together with Atlassian,” the statement said.

As part of the acquisition, the company expects to grow a team in Austin to work on Halp’s technology and related products.

“We're really excited to be able to double down on a partnership with a big company like Slack and also the Austin market here,” Goldsmith said. “This is another great bet on the marketplace, a place where we believe we can find the talent to take a great company like Halp and continue to grow.”

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