Is Trello a subsidiary of Atlassian?

Yes. Trello operates as a wholly-owned product of Atlassian following the $425 million acquisition in January 2017. Trello maintains a development presence in New York City but is owned and controlled by Atlassian, which is headquartered in Sydney, Australia.

Is Trello publicly traded?

Trello itself is not publicly traded. Its parent company, Atlassian, trades on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol TEAM. Atlassian reported $5.2 billion in revenue for fiscal year 2025. Investors can own shares in Atlassian, which includes Trello alongside Jira, Confluence, and other products.

When was Trello founded?

Trello was founded in 2011 by Joel Spolsky and Michael Pryor at Fog Creek Software. The application was spun out as an independent company in 2014, raising $10.3 million in funding. Atlassian acquired Trello in January 2017 for $425 million.

What is Trello's market position?

Trello is one of the most widely adopted project management tools globally, with over 100 million registered users as of 2026. The platform competes with Monday.com, Asana, ClickUp, and Notion. Trello differentiates itself through its kanban-first approach and simple visual interface, positioning it as a budget-friendly option for small to medium-sized teams.

Has Trello changed ownership?

Yes. Trello was originally part of Fog Creek Software. It was spun out as an independent company in 2014. Atlassian acquired Trello in January 2017 for $425 million and has owned it since. No further ownership changes have occurred.

Technology & Software

Who Owns Trello?

Q: Who founded Trello?

Joel Spolsky and Michael Pryor created Trello in 2011 at Fog Creek Software. They developed the application as a web-based kanban-style project management tool inspired by the Toyota Production System. The name came from the word trellis, the project's code name during development.

Trello is owned by Atlassian (NASDAQ: TEAM), a publicly traded Australian software company. Atlassian acquired Trello in January 2017 for $425 million. Trello operates as a wholly-owned product within Atlassian's collaboration portfolio. Atlassian is headquartered in Sydney, Australia. Trello was founded in 2011 by Joel Spolsky and Michael Pryor and has grown to over 100 million registered users.

Parent Company

Atlassian Corporation

Acquired

2017

Status

Publicly Traded

Headquarters

New York City, New York, USA

Trello Timeline

2002

Atlassian Corporation

Parent company established in San Francisco, California, United States

Company Founded

2011

Trello

Founded by Joel Spolsky, Michael Pryor

Founded

2017

Acquired by Atlassian Corporation

Atlassian Corporation acquired Trello

Acquired

GlobalOfficial Website

Who Owns Trello?

Parent Company: Atlassian Corporation
Ownership Type: Wholly owned
Acquisition Year: 2017
Company Type: Publicly Traded
Stock Ticker: NASDAQ: TEAM

Brand	Parent Company	Ownership Type
Trello	Atlassian Corporation	Wholly owned

History of Trello

Founded: 2011
Founders: Joel Spolsky, Michael Pryor
Acquired by Atlassian Corporation: 2017

Trello was created in 2011 by Joel Spolsky and Michael Pryor at Fog Creek Software. The application was developed as a web-based kanban-style project management tool, inspired by the Toyota Production System's kanban method. The name Trello came from the word trellis, which had been the project's code name during early development.

Trello was officially released at a TechCrunch event in 2011. Wired magazine named it one of The 7 Coolest Startups You Haven't Heard of Yet in September 2011. The application gained traction quickly due to its simple visual interface and free pricing model.

In 2014, Trello was spun out from Fog Creek Software to form an independent company based in New York City. The spinout raised $10.3 million in funding from Index Ventures and Spark Capital. Founders Michael Pryor and Joel Spolsky retained majority ownership.

Trello experienced rapid growth. The platform reached 1 million daily active users by 2016 and 50 million registered users by October 2019. By 2026, Trello had surpassed 100 million registered users globally. The company expanded internationally with localized interfaces and launched the Power-Up platform, allowing third-party integrations to extend Trello's functionality.

In January 2017, Atlassian announced its acquisition of Trello for $425 million. The deal closed with $360 million in cash and $65 million in shares and options. Following the acquisition, Trello continued to operate with its existing team in New York while gradually integrating with Atlassian's broader product ecosystem.

Under Atlassian's ownership, Trello continued to grow. The platform added enterprise features including advanced permissions, organization-wide visibility, and enterprise-level security controls. In 2024, Atlassian introduced Teamwork Collection, a bundle that includes Trello alongside Jira Work Management and Confluence, targeting enterprise customers.

In 2025 and 2026, Trello received significant AI-powered feature updates. Atlassian launched Trello AI, which provides intelligent card summaries, automated task suggestions, and natural language board search. The company also introduced Trello MCP (Model Context Protocol), enabling integration with AI assistants and external tools through a standardized protocol. These updates positioned Trello within Atlassian's broader AI strategy, which includes the Rovo AI assistant across its product suite.

About Atlassian Corporation

What does Atlassian own?
Atlassian owns a portfolio of software development and collaboration products including Jira, Confluence, Trello, Bitbucket, Jira Service Management, Bamboo, and Crowd. The company also offers Atlassian Rovo, an AI assistant with 5 million monthly active users. The Service Collection, which includes Jira Service Management, surpassed 1 billion dollars in ARR in FY2026.

Is Atlassian publicly traded?
Yes. Atlassian is publicly traded on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol TEAM. The company has been publicly traded since its IPO in December 2015, when it raised 462 million dollars.

Who founded Atlassian?
Atlassian was founded in 2002 by Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar, who met while studying at the University of Sydney. They started the company with 10,000 dollars in credit card debt. Cannon-Brookes continues to serve as CEO.

Where is Atlassian headquartered?
Atlassian is headquartered in San Francisco, California, with origins in Sydney, Australia. The company operates globally with employees in 15 countries including the United States, Australia, India, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Japan.

How many brands does Atlassian own?
Atlassian owns 7 major software products: Jira, Confluence, Trello, Bitbucket, Jira Service Management, Bamboo, and Crowd. The company also offers Atlassian Rovo as an AI product across its ecosystem.

Who owns Atlassian?
Atlassian is publicly owned with no controlling shareholder. Ownership is broadly distributed among institutional investors, mutual funds, and individual shareholders. Co-founders Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar remain significant shareholders and serve on the board.

What is Atlassian's revenue?
Atlassian reported total revenue of 6.57 billion dollars for fiscal year 2026, ended June 30, 2026, up 26 percent from 5.22 billion dollars in FY2025. Subscription ARR reached 6.6 billion dollars as of June 30, 2026.

Did Atlassian have layoffs?
Yes. In March 2026, Atlassian announced a 10 percent workforce reduction, cutting approximately 1,600 employees. The restructuring was intended to self-fund investment in AI and enterprise sales while accelerating the path to sustained GAAP profitability. Affected employees received a minimum 16-week separation package with additional benefits.

Founded: 2002
Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States
Company Type: Publicly Traded
Stock: NASDAQ: TEAM
Revenue: $6.57 billion (FY2026, ended June 30, 2026)
Employees: Approximately 12,200 (after March 2026 restructuring)

Visit Atlassian Corporation website

View full company profile for Atlassian Corporation

Where Is Trello Made / Based?

Headquarters: New York City, New York, USA

Trello Categories & Tags

Project Management Kanban Task Management Collaboration Productivity

Trello Recalls & Controversies

Trello has faced documented controversies related to data security and API vulnerabilities. These incidents are a matter of public record.

In January 2024, Trello experienced a data security incident where threat actors obtained public user profile data through API misuse. The breach affected approximately 15 million users. Atlassian clarified that only publicly available profile information was compromised and was combined with email addresses from other sources. The incident revealed vulnerabilities in Trello's REST API that allowed unauthenticated users to request public user information by email address.

Atlassian implemented security changes to prevent unauthorized API access following the incident. The company advised users to review their privacy settings and strengthened API security measures. However, the incident raised broader concerns about API security in cloud-based collaboration tools and damaged user trust in the platform's data protection practices.

Following the 2017 acquisition by Atlassian, some users have expressed concerns about Trello's integration into the broader Atlassian ecosystem. These concerns center on potential changes to Trello's core functionality and pricing as it becomes more integrated with Atlassian's other products like Jira and Confluence. The 2024 Teamwork Collection bundle, which packages Trello with other Atlassian products, has been both praised for value and criticized as a potential precursor to forced bundling.

Trello faces ongoing competition from specialized project management tools that offer more advanced features. Some users have requested sophisticated project management capabilities that Trello's simple kanban interface does not provide. This creates tension between maintaining the simplicity that attracts users and adding advanced features that retain them.

The current status of the API security issue is resolved. Atlassian has implemented the necessary security changes, and no subsequent breaches have been reported.

Trello Ownership: Pros & Cons

Advantages

+Atlassian's cloud infrastructure provides reliable global service for 100 million users
+Integration with Jira, Confluence, and Bitbucket creates a comprehensive collaboration suite
+Atlassian's investment in AI directly benefits Trello through new features like AI summaries and MCP
+Enterprise sales channels through Atlassian expand Trello's reach to large organizations
+Strong financial backing from a $5.2 billion revenue parent company

Considerations

-Data security concerns following the January 2024 API misuse incident affecting 15 million users
-Integration pressure may compromise Trello's simple kanban identity
-Competition from specialized tools like Monday.com, Asana, and ClickUp with more advanced features
-Dependency on Atlassian's strategic priorities and resource allocation decisions
-Freemium model limits monetization of the large free user base

Frequently Asked Questions About Trello

Sources & Further Reading

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