Freshworks
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Nasdaq: FRSH | |
| Industry | |
| Founded | 2010 in Chennai, India (as Freshdesk) |
| Founders |
|
| Headquarters | San Mateo, California, United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people |
|
| Products | Customer relationship management (CRM) and IT service management (ITSM) tools |
| Services | Online office suite, online business management tools |
| Revenue | US$838.8 million (2025) |
| US$13.2 million (2025) | |
| US$183.7 million (2025) | |
| Total assets | US$1.46 billion (2023) |
| Total equity | US$1.07 billion (2023) |
Number of employees | ~5,300 (2025) |
| Website | freshworks |
| Footnotes / references [1] | |
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.[4] 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][17] In the same month, Mathrubootham transitioned to the role of executive chairman, with Dennis Woodside succeeding him as CEO.[16][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
- ^ "2025 Annual Report (Form 10-K)". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. February 10, 2026.
- ^ "Salesforce rival Freshworks aims for nearly $9 bln valuation in U.S. IPO". Reuters. September 13, 2021. 13 September 2021. Retrieved 2023-02-13.
- ^ RAJIV SINGH. "Accel India: Decoding Founders' Mentality To Spin Success". Forbes India. Jan 18, 2021. Retrieved 2023-02-13.
- ^ a b c Anu Raghunathan (September 24, 2021). "Nasdaq Listing Of Freshworks Creates Windfall For Indian Founder And Hundreds Of Employees". Forbes.com. Retrieved September 25, 2021.
- ^ "Freshworks will make good on its IPO success with an Olympics-style work ethos". Yahoo! Finance. September 23, 2021. Retrieved September 25, 2021.
- ^ "Salesforce rival Freshworks aims for nearly $9 bln valuation in U.S. IPO". Reuters. September 13, 2021. Retrieved September 25, 2021.
- ^ "Accel India: Decoding Founders' Mentality To Spin Success". Forbes India. Retrieved 2021-02-07.
- ^ Arakali, Harichandran (March 11, 2021). "Girish Mathrubootham's billion-dollar dream for Freshworks". Forbes India.
- ^ "Freshworks IPO: More than 500 employees become crorepatis". The Indian Express. September 23, 2021.
- ^ Nishant, Niket (22 September 2021). "Freshworks' share price surges 21% over IPO, market cap at $12.2 billion". Economic Times. Sep 22, 2021, 11:35 PM. Retrieved 2023-04-12.
- ^ SNEHA BANERJEE (18 October 2016). "Freshdesk's 6th acquisition is an AI-based Chatbot Platform". Entrepreneur. OCT 18, 2016. Retrieved 2023-04-12.
- ^ Suparna Dutt DCunha (2 June 2021). "Company Close-up: A Fresh Start To Customer Engagement". Martechvibe. June 2, 2021. Retrieved 2023-04-12.
- ^ Mishra, Pankaj (January 21, 2014). "Freshdesk Targets Small Businesses With New IT Service Desk In The Cloud".
- ^ https://www.pcmag.com/news/freshdesk-becomes-freshworks-what-does-this-mean-for-enterprise-software
- ^ Aparajitha Nair. "Rapprochement. Freshworks and Zoho reach settlement to end litigation". hindubusiness. December 24, 2021. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
- ^ a b Singh, Manish (May 2, 2024). "Freshworks acquires Device42 for $230M, appoints Dennis Woodside as new CEO". TechCrunch.
- ^ Sharma, Palak (2024-12-10). "The Snap Up Game Of 2024 - A Look Back At The Biggest Acquisitions In The Startup Ecosystem". Inc42 Media. Retrieved 2026-02-24.
- ^ "Freshworks names Dennis Woodside as CEO, shares tumble". Reuters. May 1, 2024.
- ^ Paramasivam, Praveen (2025-12-17). "US software firm Freshworks eyes acquisitions with $800 million cash pile, AI in focus". Reuters. Retrieved 2026-03-25.
- ^ "Freshworks Announces Leadership Changes and Revenue Organization Realignment". TipRanks. 2026-03-05. Retrieved 2026-03-20.
- ^ "Freshworks Unifies Global Sales Organization to Accelerate Growth". Freshworks Investor Relations (Press release). 2026-03-05. Retrieved 2026-03-20.