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<ul><li><keyword id="4621694" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="freshworks" source="Orion">Freshworks</keyword> made its debut in the US-based Nasdaq on September 22 and it is the first Indian SaaS company to do so.</li><li>Freshworks was the first Indian SaaS company to achieve a billion dollar valuation, in 2019.</li><li>The company has now crossed a $10 billion valuation, thanks to its public listing.</li></ul>The Indian software-as-a-service (SaaS) industry had already been growing exponentially since last year, but Freshworks’ public listing at Nasdaq has taken it all to another level. The company, which makes customer engagement software for businesses, was valued at a whopping<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/freshworks-ipo-500-crorepatis-12-billion-market-cap-and-more-that-emerged-from-indias-first-saas-listing-at-nasdaq/articleshow/86445614.cms"> $12.2 billion </a>after it opened 21% above the initial offering price of $36 apiece. Freshworks sold 28.5 million common shares, hitting an intraday high of $48.75 on September 22. Freshworks was founded over a decade ago by <keyword id="2167965" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="girish-mathrubootham" source="Orion">Girish Mathrubootham</keyword> and <keyword id="2167964" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="shan-krishnasamy" source="Orion">Shan Krishnasamy</keyword>. Both the co-founders were former employees of Zoho Corp, which too is one of the biggest SaaS companies in India. Both Zoho Corp and Freshworks are rivals and the biggest players in this industry. Here is a glimpse of Freshworks’ journey so far: <table class="redcator-table-advance" style="border-width: initial; border-style: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.6em; box-shadow: none; width: 910.922px; font-family: Merriweather; padding-bottom: 10px !important; background-image: inherit !important; background-position: inherit !important; background-size: inherit !important; background-repeat: inherit !important; background-attachment: inherit !important; background-origin: inherit !important; background-clip: inherit !important;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Year </td><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Development </td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Early 2010 </td><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Girish Mathrubootham decided to start his entrepreneurial journey. Shan Krishnasamy too decided to join this venture as a co-founder. </td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">October 2010 </td><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Mathrubootham and Krishnasamy resigned from Zoho Corp. </td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">December 2010 </td><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Freshworks, then known as Freshdesk, incorporated in the USA due to lack of recurring payment solutions in India. </td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">March 2011 </td><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Created a team of six people — three developers, one UI/UX designer, one customer acquisition/support engineer and Mathrubootham himself as product manager and CEO. </td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">December 2011 </td><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Raised $1 million in a funding* round led by Accel. </td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">August 2015 </td><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Acquired co-browsing and live video chat provider 1CLICK.io. This was Freshdesk’s first acquisition. </td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">August 2015 </td><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">The company crossed 50,000 customers. </td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">June 2017 </td><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Freshdesk rebranded to Freshworks. </td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">June 2017 </td><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">The platform was used by 100,000 companies in 145 countries. </td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">December 2018 </td><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Freshworks turned unicorn, after raising $100 million at a valuation of more than a billion dollars. </td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">November 2019 </td><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Freshworks valued at $3.5 billion, after raising $150 million. </td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">November 2019 </td><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">It crossed 150,000 customers. </td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">March 2020 </td><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Zoho Corp filed a lawsuit alleging that Freshworks stole confidential information and built a business out of it. </td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">August 2021 </td><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Freshworks filed for $100 million IPO in USA </td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">September 2021 </td><td style="padding: 5pt; border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Freshworks made its debut on Nasdaq and its valuation touched $12 billion. </td></tr></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody></table>*Freshworks has raised one funding round every year since 2011. There was a year-long break in 2017, when the SaaS firm did not raise any capital. Freshworks and Zoho’s rivalry took a serious turn in 2020, when Zoho filed a lawsuit <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/startups/zoho-says-freshworks-intentionally-accessed-database-in-new-us-lawsuit/articleshow/79413070.cms">alleging</a> that Freshworks stole confidential information and built a business out of it. Vembu-led company has also accused Freshworks of poaching its employees and customers. The battle is still ongoing. According to a report by investment firm Chiratae Ventures and consulting firm Zinnov last month, the Indian SaaS segment has the potential to clock a total turnover of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/india-software-service-sector-needs-more-than-200000-employees-by-2025/articleshow/84632003.cms">$75 billion</a> by 2025. Companies like Zoho, Freshworks, and others are expected to be at the forefront of it. Freshworks was the first Indian SaaS company to achieve a billion dollar valuation, in 2019. A year later, the company closed another round at a valuation of $3.5 billion. It is backed by some of the prominent investors across the globe — Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global, Accel, Steadview, CapitalG and more. The company raised another billion dollars through its public issue. It’s valuation also increased over three times to $12.2 billion. The SaaS giant has acquired 13 companies to date including AnswerI1Q, Flint, CanvasFlip, Natero, and Zarget, among others. "I feel like an Indian athlete who has won a gold medal at the Olympics. We are showing the world what a global product company from India can achieve,” Mathrubootham said, in an <a href="https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/freshworks-ipo-creates-more-than-500-crorepatis-in-india-with-70-of-them-aged-below-30-7496681.html">interaction </a>with Moneycontrol. He further claimed that the <keyword id="11167545" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="freshworks-ipo" source="Orion">Freshworks IPO</keyword> has made 500 crorepatis in India, 70 of which are under 30. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/vodafone-idea-and-airtel-need-tariff-hikes-agr-moratorium-might-not-be-enough-say-analysts/articleshow/86285450.cms">Vodafone Idea and Airtel need tariff hikes, AGR moratorium might not be enough, say analysts</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/airtel-vodafone-idea-and-jio-welcome-telecom-relief-package-but-analysts-are-divided-on-whether-it-is-enough/articleshow/86252002.cms">Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Jio welcome telecom relief package, but analysts are divided on whether it is enough</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/airtel-challenges-telecom-departments-demand-of-1400-crore/articleshow/86260516.cms">Airtel challenges telecom department's demand of ₹1,400 crore</a>

The success story of India’s first SaaS company to be listed in Nasdaq

The <keyword id="3181609" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Indian-software-products">Indian software products</keyword> industry, which has until now been in the shadow of the IT industry, could very well get its own deserved place soon. If reports are to be believed, Indian government is working on a national policy especially for software products. 
 
The policy will be taking a comprehensive view of the software sector and would also try to fix some longstanding issues regarding international tariffs, taxation and R&amp;D. 
 
The policy would aim at providing the sector its due recognition that it has for long deserved, a government official involved in discussions over the initiative told ET. 
 
The policy has been in demand for a long time, especially from the tech industry, which has accused policymakers that they show a step behavior for the software products segment. 
 
As per estimates, Indian software product industry index grew by a good 26.6% annually in 2015, and 80% of this growth came from companies that are focused on global markets. 
 New companies like <keyword id="741520" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Druva">Druva</keyword>, <keyword id="852565" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Freshdesk">Freshdesk</keyword>, <keyword id="947837" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Capillary">Capillary</keyword>, <keyword id="6406413" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Team-Indus">Team Indus</keyword> (backed by Nandan Nilekani), <keyword id="783603" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Forus-Health">Forus Health</keyword>, <keyword id="6421" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Julia">Julia</keyword> (an open-source language out of Bengaluru and the MIT) and car firm <keyword id="1066230" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="savari">Savari</keyword> are the torchbearers of this industry. 
 
Department of Electronics and Information Technology has its policies for the IT sector and electronics, but it would be the first time that a policy document specifically on software products would be drafted. 
 
Issues that software product companies face include dual taxes because of digital product downloads off the internet being treated as both products as well as services and overregulation, especially for recurring payments. 
 
<a href="https://www.tum.de/typo3temp/_processed_/csm_Tastatur_81909c90be.jpg">Image source</a>

Indian software products industry to get its own national policy

<ul><li><keyword id="1132603" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Zendesk">Zendesk</keyword> has over 2,800 clients in India including Ola, Zomato, Shaadi.com, OLX, Vodafone, Airbnb and ITC Foods. </li><li>But the US-listed company will find big competition from the homegrown Zoho and Freshworks, both of which have also expanded to the US. </li><li>In an interview with Business Insider, Zendesk’s senior management discusses the company’s plans for India.</li></ul>The $9.6 billion Zendesk, the US-based <keyword id="169305" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="customer-service">customer service</keyword> software company, is focussing on the India market now. Zendesk, which has also partnered with WhatsApp for business, also launched two new products globally, including India. First product being Gather, which is a platform where customers can engage with each other and company experts. The second one Sunshine Conversations, an API-based platform through which companies can interact with consumers through social media channels. Some of its clients include Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, and also DBS Bank. India’s new-age tech savvy companies and the thousands of small and medium enterprises also caught Zendesk’s fancy. But the US-listed company will find competition from the homegrown Zoho and Freshworks, both of which have also expanded to the US. Big plans for India The India market was initially clubbed with the overall APAC zone, until Zendesk saw an opportunity in India’s growing small businesses and established an India office in 2016. Having been around in India for three years now, Zendesk has over 2800 clients including the likes of Ola, Zomato, Shaadi.com, OLX, Vodafone, Airbnb and ITC Foods.. “We follow a methodology in the emerging markets. In the beginning, an entire market is is grouped together and then we make small bets. So we have been investing in building a brand and momentum in India. We are very happy with India contribution so far but we have great expectations,” Tom Keiser, chief operating officer, Zendesk told Business Insider at the recently concluded Zendesk Showcase in Singapore. When they started off, they had 1700 customers with just 5 people at work. Today, they have over 30 employees. Ola was one of their early clients. Today, they also have startups like Bounce, Drivezy subscribing to them. And somewhere Reliance Jio which led the unprecedented data growth in India also helped, informs KT Prasad, India head, Zendesk. Challenges and localization in India But of course, India comes with its challenges. “There is an extreme scale in India and almost every client you speak to, their aspiration is always to serve over a billion people. The challenge is always making sure that you give a cost effective solution for the whole market. But India is still so underserved, the middle class population is growing at such a fast rate and something that wasn’t a business a few years ago is a booming one today,” said Sandie Overtveld, VP Asia Pacific, Zendesk. So, they had to turn to localization. Zendesk also offers customer service in Hindi and is looking to offer in other dialects in the future. Social media is also driving change in India. “With the growth of social media, and the ease with which one can turn to one of the platforms and complaint about a product, makes customer service even more important,” said Overtveld. Competing with Zoho, Freshdesk Two Indian startups – Zoho and Freshdesk took over the <keyword id="200550" type="TECHNOLOGY" weightage="20" keywordseo="CRM">CRM</keyword> space and entered the US market. But in a fast evolving Indian market, local players have an advantage – they know the Indian consumer well. However, Zendesk believes that it has a clear value proposition that differentiates it. “It’s a very competitive space and while the competitors have broadened their services – we are completely focussed on the customer and customer service,” said Keiser. Zendesk is also innovating fast to stay in the game. “We are bringing the right value to the consumer. Four years ago, we had 2-3 products, today, we have over 8 products,” said Prasad. It is also deep into machine learning, big data with a team that is based out of Melbourne, Australia. “We are building a more robust set of capabilities for self service. Solutions can be served with commitment and an omni channel approach where everything comes together - voice, text, e-mail etc,” said Keiser.

US-listed Zendesk is betting big on India in spite of competition from homegrown Zoho, Freshworks

<ul><li><keyword id="2167965" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="girish-mathrubootham" source="Orion">Girish Mathrubootham</keyword> is the star of the Indian startup scene, transforming the lives of hundreds of his Freshworks employees who are now crorepatis.</li><li>Mathrubootham says he did not start Freshworks to buy a BMW, but so that his employees could.</li><li>He also has an immense interest in sports and started FC Madras, a football training academy, and hosted the Trichy Premier League in his hometown, Tiruchirappalli.</li></ul>It’s the age of unicorns in India, but seldom does a decacorn emerge that wows the world. Enter Girish Mathrubootham’s Freshworks, which had a blockbuster listing on Nasdaq, going from a valuation of $3.5 billion to $13 billion. In the process, Mathrubootham <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/freshworks-ipo-500-crorepatis-12-billion-market-cap-and-more-that-emerged-from-indias-first-saas-listing-at-nasdaq/articleshow/86445614.cms">helped 500 of his employees turn crorepatis</a>, with 70 of them aged under 30 years. In startup parlance, a unicorn is a private company valued at or more than $1 billion and a decacorn is one worth more than $10 billion. "I feel like an Indian athlete who has won a gold medal at the Olympics. We are showing the world what a global product company from India can achieve,” he added, in an <a href="https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/freshworks-ipo-creates-more-than-500-crorepatis-in-india-with-70-of-them-aged-below-30-7496681.html">interaction </a>with Moneycontrol. <div type="image" title="Girish 1" msid="86453791" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Girish Mathrubootham with his family during the Freshworks IPO&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> Shares of Freshworks were up by over 33%, trading near $48 with a market capitalisation of nearly $13.4 billion. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="‘I’m starting this company so everybody can buy a BMW’" comment="subhead" text="‘I’m starting this company so everybody can buy a BMW’">‘I’m starting this company so everybody can buy a BMW’</cmsannotation> Mathrubootham is the son of a retired bank officer. He founded Freshworks in 2010 along with Shan Krishnasamy. “I’m not starting a company for me to buy a BMW, I’m starting this so that everybody (employees) can do that,” he told his wife at the time of starting the company, as he reveals in a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3J7zcp0-rOA">freewheeling chat</a> with Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="The birth of Freshworks – customer complaints on social media!" comment="subhead" text="The birth of Freshworks – customer complaints on social media!">The birth of Freshworks – customer complaints on social media!</cmsannotation> The idea to start Freshworks was simple, says Mathrubootham. In the past, before the explosion of social media, customers used to simply call the customer care centre to raise an issue or inquire about something. However, the arrival of social media has changed all that, with customers raising issues and posting queries on Twitter and Facebook – this is something that most of us have done at some point. This requires companies to address customer complaints across different channels, and so, having their information like account details, plans/services subscribed to, or payment information, in a quickly accessible manner becomes important. This is where the idea for Freshdesk, the company’s flagship product, was born. Then known as Freshdesk, the company rebranded itself as Freshworks in 2017. It now has tools for sales, marketing, information technology (IT) service management and human resources (HR). It claims to have over 52,000 customers and counts Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital and Accel amongst its investors. That is an amazing feat for someone born in the temple town of Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu, going on to launch a billion-dollar IPO in the US. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Looking beyond business and addressing the sporting needs of youngsters" comment="subhead" text="Looking beyond business and addressing the sporting needs of youngsters">Looking beyond business and addressing the sporting needs of youngsters</cmsannotation> India is a country of over 1.4 billion people and this leads to a scarcity of many things – including good schools and colleges, and subsequently, jobs. This forces parents to force their kids to study well and land a good job. In the process, the other aspects of a child’s development get ignored. <div type="image" title="FC Madras edited" msid="86454099" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;FC Madras, Freshworks&amp;#39; own football team and academy&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> In Mathrubootham’s case, he tried to address the sporting needs of youngsters by organising events like the Trichy Premier League, a minor cricket league played with tennis balls. “We’ve been an opportunity-scarce country for a long time, but not anymore. So, with that mindset, we made education an enemy of sport,” he said, explaining that we appreciate students who get 100 in math, but not if they are good at football or cricket. “A champion should be celebrated, be it a scientist or a sportsman,” he added. To that end, Mathrubootham’s Freshworks has also started FC Madras with an intention to promote grassroots football in the country. FC Madras has a residential academy and offers free scholarships to talented young players. “The whole idea is to create respect for sports people and celebrate our champions, these children who pursue the sport should be able to succeed as well-rounded human beings even if they don’t become champion footballers,” he said in an interview with <a href="https://yourstory.com/weekender/freshworks-girish-mathrubootham-kicks-off-football-fever-in-chennai-as-fc-madras-comes-alive/amp">YourStory</a>. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/thelife/personalities/freshworks-ceo-girish-mathrubootham-shares-someone-said-i-will-be-nothing-but-a-rickshaw-puller/articleshow/86507840.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">WATCH: "Someone said I am good enough to be a rickshaw puller," shares Freshworks CEO Girish Mathrubootham in a candid chat</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/videos/a-candid-conversation-with-freshworks-founder-and-ceo-girish-mathubootham/videoshow/86606660.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">A candid conversation with Freshworks founder and CEO, Girish Mathubootham</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/airtel-rights-issue-details-record-date-issue-price-and-more/articleshow/86446419.cms">Airtel rights issue worth ₹21,000 crore opens next month – record date, price, ratio and everything else you need to know</a>

Girish Mathrubootham, the son of a retired bank officer who built a $13 billion company in just 10 years

Indian software-as-a-service (SaaS) company <keyword id="4621694" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="freshworks" source="Orion">Freshworks</keyword> has laid off nearly 90 employees, or 2 per cent of its total workforce, citing rough global conditions behind the move. The company's Founder and CEO Girish Mathrubootham told employees in an email that this is not a company-wide layoff but "a structural change". "In all the changes we undertook we have deployed and retained the majority of our teammates, however a few around 2 per cent of 5,200 people or approximately 90 employees for whom we do not have a readily available open position," Mathrubootham wrote in the email. The CEO said that Freshworks will help impacted employees by providing them healthcare coverage and outplacement services. "While we have reported a strong quarter, we are not immune to this slower economy. While new businesses picked up, expansion slowed down even as we reduced our growth forecasts and headcount needs," he wrote. Freshworks joins a growing list of tech companies that have laid off employees amid global macro-economic conditions. The Nasdaq-listed firm was valued at $12.2 billion after it opened 21 per cent above the initial offering price of $36 apiece in September last year. Mathrubootham, in interviews with media outlets, highlighted that the IPO created a lot of wealth for its employees as more than 500 of its employees turned crorepatis (millionaires). He further added that about 70, of these 500 employees, are under the age of 30. The company was valued at $3.5 billion when it raised $150 million funding from investors like <keyword id="122716" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="sequoia-capital" source="Orion">Sequoia Capital</keyword>, CapitalG and Accel in November 2019. Founded by Mathrubootham and <keyword id="2167964" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="shan-krishnasamy" source="Orion">Shan Krishnasamy</keyword> as Freshdesk in Chennai in 2010, the company started its journey as a helpdesk software for customer support. It decided to rebrand itself to Freshworks in June 2017 to incorporate the company's growing software suite. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/honda-to-hike-vehicle-prices-by-up-to-30000-from-jan/articleshow/96271533.cms">Honda to hike vehicle prices by up to ₹30,000 from Jan</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/finance/news/be-prepared-for-export-tariff-walls-by-nations-undergoing-green-transition-fm-nirmala-sitharaman/articleshow/96270382.cms">Be prepared for export tariff walls by nations undergoing green transition: FM Nirmala Sitharaman</a>

Indian SaaS firm Freshworks lays off 90 employees

<ul><li>The Chennai-based <keyword id="4621694" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Freshworks">Freshworks</keyword> has raised $100 million in a funding round led by Sequoia Capital, Accel Partners and CapitalG, giving it a $1.5 <keyword id="55426" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="billion">billion</keyword> valuation. </li><li>It has become the fifth Indian <keyword id="152045" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Unicorn">unicorn</keyword> of 2018 along with Byju, Paytm Mall, Swiggy and PolicyBazaar. </li><li>Freshworks will use the latest investment to expand its platform, add clients in new markets and integrate AI into its core service offering.</li></ul> After Byju, Paytm Mall, Swiggy and PolicyBazaar, India now has a fifth addition to a rarified group of startups with $1 billion valuations this year. Chennai-based Freshworks, a software as a service (<keyword id="6395918" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="SAAS">SaaS</keyword>) provider, has raised $100 million in a funding round led by Sequoia Capital, Accel Partners and CapitalG, which has given it a valuation of $1.5 billion. <div type="javascript" title="Custom"><cdata><![CDATA[
 
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 Freshworks commenced operations in 2010 as a customer support company - Freshdesk - before rebranding itself and branching out into software services. It currently offers businesses a variety of services, ranging from IT systems, sales management software and customer service. It competes with the likes of Zendesk and Salesforce and has over 150,000 clients across the world including Cisco, Toshiba, Honda, Bridgestone and the University of Pennsylvania. The company has raised $250 million to date. Its last major capital infusion came in 2016, wherein Sequoia led a $55 million funding round to give it a valuation of $700 million. It recently reached around $100 million in annual recurring revenues. Freshworks will use the latest investment to expand its platform, add clients in new markets in the Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa and integrate artificial intelligence into its core service offering. GIven the company’s plans of an initial public offering in the near future, this is likely the last time it will take the private funding route before going public. To this effect, Freshworks also announced the appointment of Suresh Seshadri, the former VP of finance at AppDynamics, as its new chief financial officer. Seshadri was instrumental in taking AppDynamics, a San Francisco-based IT analytics company, public last year.

Freshworks just became India’s fifth entrant to the unicorn club this year

<ul><li><keyword id="4621694" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="freshworks" source="Orion">Freshworks</keyword> made its trading debut on US stock exchange Nasdaq on Wednesday and its valuation touched $12 billion.</li><li>The company sold 28.5 million common shares, raising $1 billion in proceeds.</li><li>The CEO says that the IPO created 500 crorepatis in India, 70 of which are under 30.</li></ul>Indian software-as-a-service (SaaS) firm Freshworks made its trading debut on US stock exchange Nasdaq on Wednesday and it was a strong one. The company was valued at $12.2 billion after it opened 21% above the initial offering price of $36 apiece. Shares of Freshworks opened at $43.5. The stock hit an<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/freshworks-stock-price-ipo-nasdaq-debut-salesforce-software-crm-2021-9"> intraday high</a> of $48.75 on September 22. Freshworks sold 28.5 million common shares, raising $1 billion in proceeds. Girish Mathrubootham, in interviews with several media outlets, highlighted that the Freshworks initial public offering (IPO) created a lot of wealth for its employees as more than 500 of its employees turned crorepatis (millionaires). He further added that about 70, of these 500 employees, are under the age of 30. "I feel like an Indian athlete who has won a gold medal at the Olympics. We are showing the world what a global product company from India can achieve,” he added, in an <a href="https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/freshworks-ipo-creates-more-than-500-crorepatis-in-india-with-70-of-them-aged-below-30-7496681.html">interaction </a>with Moneycontrol. The company was valued at $3.5 billion when it raised $150 million funding from investors like Sequoia Capital, CapitalG and Accel in November 2019. The company is also backed by Steadview Capital and Tiger Global Management. It plans to use the proceeds from the offering to acquire complementary businesses, products, services or technology. A part will also be used for general corporate purposes like working capital, operating expenses and capital expenditure. Founded by Mathrubootham and Shan Krishnasamy as Freshdesk in 2010, the company started its journey as a helpdesk software for customer support. It decided to rebrand itself to Freshworks in June 2017 to incorporate the company’s growing software suite. Freshworks claims to have over 52,500 customers across the globe and it reported a revenue of $169 million in the first half of 2021. Compared to the first half of 2020, the company’s revenue has grown by nearly $60 million. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/cryptocurrency/news/south-koreas-crypto-regulations-are-tightening-around-investors-and-exchanges-alike/articleshow/86426452.cms">South Korea’s crypto regulations are tightening around investors and exchanges alike</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/paras-defence-and-space-technologies-ipo-gets-blockbuster-demand-from-investors/articleshow/86422668.cms">Paras Defence and Space Technologies IPO gets blockbuster demand from investor</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/experts-say-karnatakas-ban-on-games-of-chance-like-dream11-and-mpl-may-face-a-legal-test/articleshow/86419697.cms">Experts say Karnataka’s ban on games of chance like Dream11 and MPL may face a legal test</a>

Freshworks IPO — 500 crorepatis, $12 billion market cap and more that emerged from India’s first SaaS listing at Nasdaq

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Courtesy of FreshworksFreshworks CEO and co-founder Girish Mathrubootham now runs one of India's first unicorns.</div></div></div><ul><li>Freshworks, an India-based sales and customer service software company, announced a $100 million funding round at a $1.5 billion valuation.</li><li>This makes it one of India's first unicorns - and the country's only unicorn in the <keyword id="6356323" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="enterprise">enterprise</keyword> software space.</li><li>The funding was led by Accel and Sequoia with participation from Google's CapitalG.</li></ul>Like many startup founders, the trajectory of Girish Mathrubootham's career changed because of an aha moment. The Chennai, India-based Mathrubootham had just moved back home after living some time in Austin, Texas. A television he shipped during his move arrived broken, and he wasn't having any luck getting through to customer service to get reimbursed for his troubles.As these stories go, Mathrubootham knew there had to be a better way to get customers in touch with the companies that serve them. So he co-founded Freshworks - then known as Freshdesk - to do just that."When we started Freshworks in 2010, we were a single product company with a goal of offering better, easier-to-use customer service software than what was in the market," Mathrubootham said in a statement.On Tuesday, Freshworks announced $100 million in funding from Silicon Valley investors Accel and Sequoia, with participation from Google's CapitalG. The company is now valued at $1.5 billion, making it the first enterprise software unicorn to ever come out of India, according to the company.And in June, the company <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/freshworks-reaches-100-million-in-annual-recurring-revenue-unveils-freshworks-360-1027315582">announced</a> another milestone: $100 million in annual recurring revenue, thanks to customers like Honda and Cisco. While India has deep connections to the US tech industry, so far it has yielded very few globally successful startups. One major exception to that is Flipkart, an e-commerce company <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/walmarts-stock-price-flipkart-acquisition-has-one-analyst-questioning-whether-the-company-can-fulfill-a-big-promise-it-just-made-to-shareholders-2018-5-1025004268">which sold to Walmart</a> for $16 billion in May. But Freshworks investors think the 8-year-old startup - which positions itself as a low-cost alternative to customer service, sales and marketing platforms such as Salesforce and ServiceNow - could prove an exception to the rule."Sequoia first backed Freshworks in 2016 and didn't hesitate for a moment to double down on the investment," Sequoia investor Mohit Bhatnagar said in a statement. "Girish and his team have worked relentlessly to build Freshworks into a leading SaaS company from India - one that is truly global with customers across 127 countries." <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cigna-ceo-explains-the-problem-with-healthcare-in-america-2018-7">Cigna's CEO says that the problem with healthcare in America has nothing to do with employers</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

A Salesforce competitor just raised $100 million from Silicon Valley investors to become India's first enterprise software unicorn

<div type="image" msid="58062255" hostid="261"></div>

 
 
Sanjay Mehta has been a ‘full-time investor’ since the past four years before quitting his last entrepreneurial venture. He loves entrepreneurship for its process, “I really enjoy ‘proxy entrepreneurship’, which means that I can enable many people to start their ventures and help them create a stable business,’’ he says. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/exclusive-ace-angel-investor-sanjay-mehtas-true-life-experiences-that-makes-his-investments-in-startups-fool-proof/articleshow/58061818.cms">ALSO READ: Exclusive: Ace Angel Investor Sanjay Mehta’s true-life experiences that make his investments in startups fool-proof</a> 
 
Mehta is excited about the business building process and thinks that the best part about starting a business is seeing it grow from seed stage to $2-5 million businesses where you enjoy the journey of creating something that has its own identity. He also believes that this is the hardest part, “Their sheer enthusiasm rubs off on me and I learn a lot by listening to their ideas. I get personal gratification by seeing them give in to their belief and giving up the best years of their lives,” he says, at peace. 
 
With 66 start-up portfolio companies namely Zippr, Box8, WowMomos, AdstringO, UnBxd, Consure Medical Device, Oyo Rooms, PrettySecrets.com, Letsventure.com, MechMocha, Faballey.com, PayTunes, LogiNext, RepUp, Adsparx, Ecosense, PeeBuddy and more; Mehta is a regular target for aspiring founders and more so after his successful exit from Oyo Rooms whose founder Ritesh Aggarwal, became famous for being a 21-year old founder. 
 
From an exit perspective, Oyo was the biggest exit for any Indian angel investor at 280 x of the investment made which was last year. He is very practical with his investments and thinks that a 100 x exit from a start-up is successful but that’s not why he does it; he sounds like a proud parent when he talks about his investments. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/exclusive-voonik-is-redefining-fashion-e-commerce-for-indian-masses/articleshow/58044307.cms">ALSO READ: Exclusive: Voonik is Redefining Fashion E-commerce for Indian Masses</a> 
 He is very practical in his outlook for the start-up ecosystem, “In terms of <keyword id="3003094" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Startup-India">Startup India</keyword>, I don’t think the government has done enough especially to ease the pains of doing business. I’m appreciative of this government because not only have they started a dialogue in the country, they have also started adopting new technologies made in India, at a state and national level which is a supportive move, ”he beams. 
 
Mehta as an investor is bullish about Crypto currency, Universal utilities, FMCG brands that sell online, Medical devices, Pharma, Ed-tech, Media, and entertainment, as sectors and believes that India is on the cusp of innovative products and this is just the beginning. 
Sanjay has a good eye for innovation and thinks product start-ups like Freshdesk and Druva have already started the start-up revolution that is driven by innovative products that will propel India to be world’s start-up destination. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/the-stayzilla-fiasco-is-an-ugly-heads-up-of-the-future-of-the-indian-startup-ecosystem/articleshow/57689230.cms">ALSO READ: The Stayzilla fiasco is an ugly heads-up of the future of the Indian startup ecosystem</a> 
 
 You can reach Sanjay Mehta on Twitter- @mehtasanjay or on LinkedIn, where he writes regular opinion articles on the start-up ecosystem.

Exclusive: An Angel investor whose Midas touch with Crypto-currency is redefining the future of start-up investments

They might be boasting of a trend they have rightly caught up with. But they aren’t really ready to set the equilibrium. The start up culture in India has given India an entrepreneurial identity in the global map, yet none of the companies has a single woman employee in its executive leadership. 
 
India's biggest, most funded and perhaps the fastest growing startup, Flipkart, is beginning to reflect the problem haunting the country's much bigger technology industry that of gender diversity at the top, informs a news report by The Economic Times. 
 
Not only Flipkart, Myntra Ola, Quikr, Freshdesk and several others have long ignored the need to achieve gender diversity at the top. The ET report believes, perhaps the founders have been too busy building their startups. 
 
But building an equitable culture and at least trying to put together a diverse leadership team is a responsibility they cannot shy away from, especially if more than third (and in some cases nearly half) of their employees are women. 
During Women’s day and other ‘seasonal’ events, these companies bring out a hyped gender diversity debates. But this issue is far too important to be raised only during the season, and secondly, March is too far, far away to wait, states the news report by the financial daily. 
 
The ET lists out some dynamic founders of startups such as MapMyGenome (Anu Acharya), Limeroad (Suchi Mukherjee), Tracxn (Neha Singh), Mad StreDen's Ashwini Asokan and Trucksfirst (Gazal Kalra). But other than this it's really difficult to spot women entrepreneurs and top startup executives. Some of them may lack experience in managing large, complex organisations. But that's an area of improvement for many, many professionals of the opposite gender. 
 
The ET asks the right question- if founders and startups can spend so much of time debating, arguing, calling each other names, about issues of hiring, evil investors, intellectually challenged boards - why not set some time aside on solving the global tech's oldest problem? 
 
Perhaps somebody in India could put together "a list of boss ladies" the way Silicon Valley veteran Sukhinder Singh Cassidy did with this Boardlist. 
 
For its part, Flipkart seems to have realised that it needs to do better in terms of gender diversity. Couple of weeks ago, it announced an attractive maternity package to retain its women staff across the company. 
 
But a detailed questionnaire sent on last Friday to Flipkart, Zomato, and several others remained unanswered. In fact, Paytm was the only company to have responded. 
 
Some would argue (and perhaps rightfully so) that with the rise of new breed women founders at startups such as Trucksfirst, MapMyGenome and several others, things are much better off and there is no need to demand gender diversity at companies such as Flipkart. 
 
But the real issue is not just about having a good number of women founders in the ecosystem. It's more about ensuring diversity at startups such as Flipkart that are no more small; employ thousands of staff, and are seen as role models for the entire ecosystem. They need to urgently address the aspirations of their (potential) women leaders and set an example, suggested the news report.

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