Freshworks completes billion-dollar IPO, officially lists on Nasdaq

Chennai and San Mateo-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) company Freshworks Inc debuted on the Nasdaq after completing an initial public offering (IPO) worth over a billion dollars.

The company had sold 28.5 million Class A common shares at an offer price of $36 per share, generating a little over $1 billion at a market cap of $10.13 billion. The company has also granted the underwriters of a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 2. 85 million shares at the IPO price.

"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," Freshworks cofounder Girish Mathrubootham tweeted.

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During the bell-ringing ceremony, he said: "I feel like an Indian athlete who has won a gold medal at the Olympics. I am really proud of how far we have come and more importantly I am excited about what's ahead."

The Accel and Sequoia Capital-backed company has become the first Indian SaaS company and unicorn to list on the US exchange. The shares are trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol "FRSH".  The offering will close on September 24, 2021.

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"We are showing the world what a global product company from India can achieve. The fact that we are doing it first in the US, US market here in Nasdaq is truly amazing. I would like to say today is day zero for Freshworks all over again," he added.

Founded by Mathrubootham and Shan Krishnasamy in 2010, the company was rebranded from Freshdesk to Freshworks in 2018. It's product suite includes IT, customer service, sales, marketing and HR solutions. Today, the company has dedicated teams in 13 global offices and serves over 52,000, including Bridgestone, Chargebee, DeliveryHero, ITV, Klarna, Multichoice, OfficeMax, TaylorMade and Vice Media.

Freshworks was valued at $3.5 billion during its last fundraising in November 2019 when it secured $150 million from Sequoia Capital, CapitalG and Accel.

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