Atlassian buys HipChat IM software

Atlassian has acquired HipChat, a US-based hosted chat service used for private instant messaging within companies like Groupon and WIRED.

HipChat is collaboration software that facilitates real-time communication, file sharing and instant messaging between teams and companies to support software development. 

The browser-based service facilitates private (invite only), public and group chat sessions, which can be controlled by topic names.

It is supported by Windows and Mac and offers mobile platform support, with additional archiving capabilities to support knowledge sharing for new employees.

According to Atlassian CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes, the service was "perfect for product teams" and was used widely within Atlassian.

The acquisition allows customers such as NBN Co to lease the HipChat from within the entire Atlassian suite, including Jira and Confluence, as well as GreenHopper, Bamboo, BitBucket, Crucible, FishEye, Team Calendars, Bonfire and Jira Mobile Connect.

It will cost $2 per month per user, a pricing model consistent with HipChat's $10 a month cloud software subscription model announced late last year.

Atlassian claims to have 18,000 clients, $100 million in annual revenues and in 2010 secured $60 million in funding from Silicon Vally venture capitalists, Accel Partners. 

Terms of the deal with HipChat have not been disclosed.