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Freshworks

Freshworks Inc. is a cloud-based software-as-a-service company, founded in 2010 in Chennai, India.[2][3] The company provides cloud-based tools for customer relationship management (CRM), IT service management (ITSM), and e-commerce marketing.

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[4][5] following earlier funding rounds from venture capital firms such as Accel and Google's venture capital fund, CapitalG.[6][7]

History

Freshworks was founded in 2010 by former Zoho employees Girish Mathrubootham and Shan Krishnasamy in Chennai, India, as Freshdesk.[8][9] The company moved their headquarters to San Mateo, California, in 2018.[4] 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.[10]

Freshworks acquired three other companies, 1CLICK.io, Konotor, and Frilp, in 2015.[11] In 2016, the company launched its second product, Freshsales, a customer relationship management (CRM) software.[12]

In 2014, it launched Freshservice, an ITSM that offers software and hardware asset management, incident management, and service request tracking services.[13]

In 2017, Freshdesk changed its name to Freshworks Inc.[14]

In 2020 Zoho accused Freshworks of stealing Zoho's intellectual property, and the lawsuit was settled in 2021.[15]

Freshworks acquired Device42, an American IT-management firm, for $230 million in May 2024.[16] In the same month, Mathrubootham transitioned to the role of executive chairman, with Dennis Woodside succeeding him as CEO.[17][18]

In December 2025, Freshworks announced a definitive agreement to acquire FireHydrant, an incident management platform powered by artificial intelligence, expanding its IT service management portfolio.[19]

In March 2026, the company appointed Ian Tickle as chief revenue officer.[20][21]

See also

References

  1. 2025 Annual Report (Form 10-K) U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, February 10, 2026^
  2. Salesforce rival Freshworks aims for nearly $9 bln valuation in U.S. IPO Reuters, September 13, 2021, 13 September 2021, retrieved 2023-02-13^
  3. RAJIV SINGH. Accel India: Decoding Founders' Mentality To Spin Success Forbes India, Jan 18, 2021, retrieved 2023-02-13^
  4. Anu Raghunathan. Nasdaq Listing Of Freshworks Creates Windfall For Indian Founder And Hundreds Of Employees Forbes.com, September 24, 2021, retrieved September 25, 2021^
  5. Freshworks will make good on its IPO success with an Olympics-style work ethos Yahoo! Finance, September 23, 2021, retrieved September 25, 2021^
  6. Salesforce rival Freshworks aims for nearly $9 bln valuation in U.S. IPO Reuters, September 13, 2021, retrieved September 25, 2021^
  7. Accel India: Decoding Founders' Mentality To Spin Success Forbes India, retrieved 2021-02-07^
  8. Harichandran Arakali. Girish Mathrubootham's billion-dollar dream for Freshworks Forbes India, March 11, 2021^
  9. Freshworks IPO: More than 500 employees become crorepatis The Indian Express, September 23, 2021^
  10. Niket Nishant. Freshworks' share price surges 21% over IPO, market cap at $12.2 billion Economic Times, Sep 22, 2021, 11:35 PM, 22 September 2021, retrieved 2023-04-12^
  11. SNEHA BANERJEE. Freshdesk's 6th acquisition is an AI-based Chatbot Platform Entrepreneur, OCT 18, 2016, 18 October 2016, retrieved 2023-04-12^
  12. Suparna Dutt DCunha. Company Close-up: A Fresh Start To Customer Engagement Martechvibe, June 2, 2021, 2 June 2021, retrieved 2023-04-12^
  13. Pankaj Mishra. Freshdesk Targets Small Businesses With New IT Service Desk In The Cloud January 21, 2014^
  14. https://www.pcmag.com/news/freshdesk-becomes-freshworks-what-does-this-mean-for-enterprise-software^
  15. Aparajitha Nair. Rapprochement. Freshworks and Zoho reach settlement to end litigation hindubusiness, December 24, 2021, retrieved 2024-05-23^
  16. Palak Sharma. The Snap Up Game Of 2024 - A Look Back At The Biggest Acquisitions In The Startup Ecosystem Inc42 Media, 2024-12-10, retrieved 2026-02-24^
  17. Manish Singh. Freshworks acquires Device42 for $230M, appoints Dennis Woodside as new CEO TechCrunch, May 2, 2024^
  18. Freshworks names Dennis Woodside as CEO, shares tumble Reuters, May 1, 2024^
  19. Praveen Paramasivam. US software firm Freshworks eyes acquisitions with $800 million cash pile, AI in focus Reuters, 2025-12-17, retrieved 2026-03-25^
  20. Freshworks Announces Leadership Changes and Revenue Organization Realignment TipRanks, 2026-03-05, retrieved 2026-03-20^
  21. Freshworks Unifies Global Sales Organization to Accelerate Growth Freshworks Investor Relations, 2026-03-05, retrieved 2026-03-20^