How Freshworks IPO made 500 of its employee’s crorepatis in India; Success story of Freshworks

The public offering led to the company’s market valuation at a bulk $12.2 billion by unwrapping the opening at 21 per cent higher than the IPO price which was listed at $36 per share.

Tech-based company Freshworks Incorporation raised an IPO worth over a billion dollars in Nasdaq stock exchange last week which remarkably made 500 of his employees’ millionaires (crorepatis) in India. The public offering led to the company’s market valuation at a bulk $12.2 billion by unwrapping the opening at 21 percent higher than the IPO price which was listed at $36 per share.

Initially, it was reported by Reuters that before the actual offering took place, the Sequoia Capital-backed Corporation was eyeing to raise over $969 million at the apex of its price range of $32- $34 apiece. On 20^th September, 2021, the company augmented its targeted price for American public offering which would fuel the cloud-software company’s market valuation to around $9.6 billion. It was also brought into notice that according to the Reuters report, Freshworks was expected to be valued at $10 billion in its first public offering on the US stock exchange. 

In its IPO boom, the SaaS company sold over 28.5 million common shares of class A offering $36 apiece which resulted in generating $1 billion at a market cap of $10.13 billion. The software company also offered its underwriters including Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan and Bofa Securities, etc. to acquire up to an extra 2.85 million shares at the public offering price within 30 days. The shares traded on the Nasdaq Global market under the name ‘FRSH’. The public offering finally closed on September 24, 2021.

Setting a milestone, Freshworks is now the first Indian software-as-a-service (SaaS) corporation to get listed on an American stock exchange market. The company claims that out of its 4,000 employees, more than 70% of them possessed ESOPs which led to bringing them more fortune than ever. 

On the occasion of getting listed in Nasdaq stock exchange, Freshworks Cofounder Girish Mathrubootham states that the billion-dollar IPO has bestowed him an opportunity to realize the responsibility towards his employees who have been working in the company faithfully and who have always believed in its potential for over last ten years. On welcoming the bulk wealth from the latest IPO, he said, “It gives me a great sense of fulfillment today.”

On shaping the financial status of Freshworks’ employees as ‘crorepatis’, Mathrubootham further added that the employees have contributed to the growth of the company and created the company the way it is now. Hence, the wealth coming from an IPO is supposed to be distributed among those who put efforts in creating it. He believes that the fortune share is not reserved just for the investors or the founders to get wealthy, but is for all those who deserve it. 

His recent tweet shared, “Today is a dream come true for me- from humble beginnings in #Trichy to ringing bell at @Nasdaq for the Freshworks IPO. Thank you to our employees, customers, partners, and investors for believing in this dream.”

What is Freshworks about?

Freshworks is a cloud-software service company focusing on customer engagement. It provides businesses with software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions. By adapting a modern approach on structuring and delivering affordable SaaS , theFreshworks makes it effortless for the businesses to satisfy their customers as well as employees. The services provided by the Sequoia Capital-backed company are uncomplicated to implement and are designed based on the requirements of the ultimate users. 

Tech unicorn Freshworks develops technology-based products which can ease the work in various job areas including Information Technology, Sales, Customer Service, Human Resource Management, etc. Data says that more than 50,000 businesses from around 120 countries avail Freshworks’ services in order to enhance the customer as well as employees experience. Some of the well-known companies as Freshwork’s customers include Klarna, Vice Media, Delivery Hero SE, Bridgestone, Multichoice, etc. 

Who are the founders of Freshworks?

In the year 2010, Freshworks Incorporation was founded by Girish Mathrubootham along with Shan Krishnasamy who started their journey in the company by working on developing a cloud-software service which is focused entirely on the user engagement. The California-based company was first named as Freshdesk which later changed to Freshworks in 2017. 

Before founding the Saas company, its co-founders worked in the Zoho Corporation which they quitted later in October 2010 and decided to dedicate their full potential in building Freshdesk as a brand serving tech-based products and solutions to business from all over the world. 

Background of Freshworks as ‘Freshdesk’

Freshworks, earlier known as Freshdesk started its incorporation in the America after the founders realized the gap in the demand of recurring payment solutions in India. In its initial stages, the company managed its operations with a team comprising not more than six individuals including 3 business developers, 1 UX designer, 1 customer support head and Girish Mathrubootham as the company’s co-founder and CEO (Chief Executive Officer). 

The California-based company raised its first round of funding in 2011 bringing $1 million to the startup. The funding round was led by Accel, an American Venture Capital firm.  

In August 2015, Freshworks witnessed its first even acquisition Of 1CLICK.io., live video chat platform. At present, the company is ramped up by a total of 13 acquisitions including Flint, Natero, CanvasFlip, Zarget, and many more.

The software company turned a unicorn in the year 2018 after raising a whopping $100 million. 

Freshworks was in the spotlight in 2020 with Zoho Corporation as its rival on being accused of illegally carrying off the latter’s confidential information and using it in constructing its own business. The top leading rival also accused the company of plundering its customers as well as employees. Freshwork is still fighting against the accusation at the present time. 

As of the latest update, the SaaS corporation has finally made its first appearance in the Global Stock Exchange which empowered the company’s market valuation to $12 billion, surpassing the expected valuation of $10 billion. 

What are products offered by Freshworks?

Following are the products falling under the product portfolio of Freshworks:

Additionally, Freshworks also offers free tools including Freshping and Freshstatus. Freshping makes it easy for customers to monitor websites while Freshstatus manages and organizes incidents with a live status page. 

The company’s products are utilized by more than 50, 000 customers worldwide including Springer Nature, Multichoice, Pearson, Fiverr, Delivery Hero, Klarna, etc. 

Facing the criticism over the years, called “a bunch of Indian cowboys” and that the company lacks innovation for product development, now it has concreted its stance with $12 billion worth in the market making over 500 of its employee’s millionaires out of which seventy of them are millennial falling under the age of 40. The company has shown impeccable growth in the tech segment globally catering to the needs of thousands of businesses dealing with software services based on customer engagement. The success story of Freshworks is doubtlessly more than inspiring where people like Mathrubootham stand strong to lead the establishment and help it set forthcoming milestones in the technology space.