Freshworks Bags $150 Mn From Google, Others: A Step Closer To IPO?

Chennai-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) unicorn Freshworks, on Friday, has closed a $150 Mn funding round led by tech giant Google, and its existing investors, venture capital firms Sequoia and Accel. Reportedly, the company is now valued at $3.5 Bn after this funding round.

Freshworks founder and CEO, Girish Mathrubootham, informed that the company has crossed $200 Mn in annual recurring revenue (ARR). The company had hit the $100 Mn ARR mark in June last year.

A source close to the matter said that this is a pre-initial public offering (IPO) round. Before this funding round, the company has so far raised $250 Mn from marquee investors such as Tiger Global and Sequoia.

Founded in 2010 as Freshdesk by Mathrubootham and Shan Krishnasamyas, the company initially was just a helpdesk software for customer support. The company was rebranded to Freshworks in June 2017.

The company claims to have over 150K clients across the world which uses Freshworks’ software product suites. Its clients-base have leading companies such as the NHS, Honda, Rightmove, Hugo Boss, Citizens Advice, Toshiba, and Cisco, among others.

Earlier in 2019, the company said that it has around 35K paying customers and its billings in the April-June quarter have also increased by 69%.

Freshworks’ IPO Plans

In July 2019, Freshworks was planning an initial public offering (IPO) by 2021. The listing is expected to be on New York-headquartered stock exchange, NASDAQ.

Besides raising funds for the IPO listing, the company is also working to create increased awareness for its brand in the US.

Moreover, a source said that these pre-IPO rounds will set the valuation of the company and will also put a benchmark to what each Freshworks share could be valued.

Moreover, reports have also surfaced that Mathrubootham has relocated to the US to keep in touch with the US headquarters in California. He now spends most of his time in the US market, closer to consumers and other stakeholders in order to ease out the process of launching its IPO.

As a SaaS unicorn, Freshworks directly competes with other Indian SaaS companies such as  Zoho and Icertis. According to a NASSCOM report, India’s software as a service (SaaS) market is expected to grow 36% annually and touch $3.3-$3.4 Bn by 2022.

Correction Note:

• An earlier version of this article was published with typographical and grammatical errors in the summary points. The errors have now been rectified.
• An earlier version of this article was published with typographical errors in the main copy. The errors have now been rectified.

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