Freshworks is a cloud-based customer service software company founded in 2010 in Chennai, India. Freshworks has received multiple awards and has been listed on the Forbes Cloud 100 and Gartner Magic Quadrant for Customer Engagement Center CRM report.
The company provides cloud-based tools for customer relationship management (CRM) and IT service management (ITSM). It has a customer base of over 52,000 clients in more than 100 countries.
On September 22, 2021, Freshworks made history by becoming the first Indian SaaS company to be listed on Nasdaq. The company successfully raised $1.03 billion through its initial public offering, following earlier funding rounds from top-tier venture capital firms, including Accel and Google's venture capital fund, CapitalG.
History
Freshworks is a software company that was founded on October 13, 2010 by Girish Mathrubootham and Shan Krishnasamy and moved its headquarters to San Mateo, California, in 2018. The company focuses on developing cloud-based customer service software and has undergone multiple rounds of funding from well-known investors such as Accel, Tiger Global Management, and Sequoia Capital.
During its development, Freshworks acquired three other companies, 1CLICK.io, Konotor, and Frilp, in 2015. In 2016, the company launched its second product, Freshsales, a customer relationship management (CRM) software.
In 2017, Freshdesk officially changed its name to Freshworks Inc. In 2018, the company achieved annual recurring revenue of over $100 million and launched a product suite called Freshworks 360.
Freshworks was listed at number 40 on Forbes Cloud 100 between 2017 and 2019. In 2020, the company achieved annual recurring revenue over $200 million and was listed at number 16 on Forbes Cloud 100; in 2021, it achieved annual recurring revenue over $300 million, and in 2022 this had grown to $400 million.
Initial public offering
On September 22, 2021, Freshworks made its debut on Nasdaq with a valuation of $13 billion at the close of its first trading day. The company raised $1.03 billion by selling 28.5 million shares at $36 per share. The shares opened at a 21% premium to the IPO price and closed the day 32% higher, at $47.55.