'Dream Come True': Freshworks Raises $1.03 Bn in US IPO, Valuation Jumps to $10.13 Bn

Business software firm Freshworks co-founder Girish Mathrubootham on Wednesday said ist listing on the US NASDAQ stock exchange is a is a dream come true from a humble beginnings in Trichy to the iconic bell ringing at the Nasdaq MarketSite.

The firm made its debut on the Nasdaq stock exchange after a billion-dollar IPO, making it the first Indian SaaS company to list on the American bourse. The San Mateo, California-headquartered software as a service (SaaS) company was founded in 2010 by Girish Mathrubootham and Shan Krishnasamy in Chennai.

In a tweet congratulating his employees and partners Mathrubootham said, “Today is a dream come true for me – from humble beginnings in #Trichy to ringing the bell at @Nasdaq for the FreshWorks IPO. Thank you to our employees, customers, partners, and investors for believing in this dream.

Business software firm Freshworks said it had priced its US initial public offering well above the target range to raise $1.03 billion, valuing the Salesforce.com rival at $10.13 billion as hybrid work fuels demand for its products.

Freshworks priced 28.5 million shares at $36 per share, the company backed by Accel and Sequoia Capital said on Tuesday. It had earlier expected to raise $969 million at the top end of its increased price range of $32 to $34 per share.

Speaking to reporters, he said Freshworks has in the last 10 years reached a revenue scale of more than USD 300 million. “…We are growing at a pretty healthy clip at more than 45 per cent…We have more than 52,000 paying customers globally across 120-plus countries…more than 13,000 of those customers are paying us over USD 5,000 in annual recurring revenue,” he said, adding that the company has more than 4,300 employees globally. “We operate in a massive USD 120 billion TAM (total addressable market) which shows how much further we can keep going. Freshworks is amongst the very few companies who have accomplished that scale and growth in a fairly efficient manner.”

“In fact in the last 12 months, we managed to generate over USD 25 million in free cash flow. So that combination of revenue scale, growth and efficiency, puts us in a great spot to continue our journey as a public company,” he added. Mathrubootham described the listing of the company has an “incredibly proud moment” as “Freshworks is the first SaaS company from India to go public in the US”.

“What I am super happy about is what this means for India SaaS. We have a whole next set of entrepreneurs and founders who are building companies that are scaling nicely, and we all want to share this dream of India as a prospect nation, and I’m excited to see the next set of companies go public, and we want to see more global product companies from India,” he said. Mathrubootham noted that the company — which has raised funding from investors like Accel and Sequoia Capital — has a unique strategic advantage with its access to top talent in India across Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

“I think we clearly see that as a big advantage in R&D with access to high quality talent, which we have been and we plan to continue to use that to do that going forward. “The other important advantage that India brings for us is the ability to service the long tail of the global SMB customer from India. Everything from demand generation to sales and support happens from India and that 100 per cent of our SMB business is closed from India,” he explained.

In terms of revenue, the US and Europe are the company’s two largest markets, while 16 per cent of its revenue comes from Rest of the World (RoW). Freshworks CFO Tyler Sloat said the company will raise around a billion dollars in the IPO. “…you can do the math, we sold..and it’s not exact shares… underwriters get to exercise and you don’t know if they’ve exercised it fully until a little bit later but it’s around 30 million shares and it was priced at USD 36 a share…we opened a little bit higher than what we we priced the IPO,” he said.

San Mateo, California-based Freshworks joins a number of big names from the enterprise software business that have taken advantage of red-hot U.S. capital markets over the past 18 months.

Most software IPOs during that period have been well-received by investors who see room for growth in the sector even after the pandemic, as the adoption of hybrid work models by companies across the world drive up demand for enterprise software products.

Founded in Chennai, in 2010, Freshworks helps businesses with customer management, offering products including a messaging platform, an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot for customer support and call-center solutions that promise shorter wait times.

Freshworks shares are scheduled to start trading on the Nasdaq on Wednesday under the symbol “FRSH”.

Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, BofA Securities are the lead underwriters for the offering.

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