Freshworks

Freshworks Inc. is a cloud-based software-as-a-service company, founded in 2010 in Chennai, India. The company provides cloud-based tools for customer relationship management (CRM), IT service management (ITSM), and e-commerce marketing. As of October 2023, Freshworks has over 60,000 business clients. Among these, more than 51,000 are small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), defined as companies with no more than 250 employees.

On September 22, 2021, Freshworks became the first Indian SaaS company to be listed on Nasdaq. In its initial public offering, Freshworks raised $1.03 billion following earlier funding rounds from venture capital firms such as Accel and Google's venture capital fund, CapitalG.

History
Freshworks was founded in 2010 by former Zoho employees Girish Mathrubootham and Shan Krishnasamy in Chennai, India, as Freshdesk. The company moved their 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 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. This change was part of their strategy to become a multi-product company and avoid limiting their brand to just helpdesk solutions. In 2018, the company achieved annual recurring revenue of over $100 million and launched a product suite called Freshworks 360. In 2020 Zoho accused Freshworks of stealing Zoho's intellectual property and the lawsuit was settled in 2021.

The company's annual recurring revenue was reported as over $200 million in 2020, over $300 million in 2021, and $400 million in 2022. In 2023, Freshworks set a goal of $1 billion total revenue by 2026.

Freshworks disclosed that it acquired Device42, an American IT-management firm, for $230 million in May 2024. Also in May, Mathrubootham transitioned to the role of executive chairman, with Dennis Woodside succeeding him as CEO.

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. The stock price peaked at $50.25 per share, 39% higher than the IPO price, on October 22, 2021, before plummeting to a low of $11.30 on June 17, 2022.

Recognition
Freshworks has been recognized in various industry reports, including the Forbes Cloud 100 and Gartner Magic Quadrant for Customer Engagement Center CRM.

Freshworks was listed at number 40 on Forbes Cloud 100 between 2017 and 2019. It was listed at number 16 on Forbes Cloud 100 in 2020.