Landmark moment for this Rajinikanth fan’s SaaS startup on listing at US exchange

• Freshworks became the first Indian software-as-a-service (SaaS) firm to get listed on a US exchange by raising $13 billion on its debut day.
• The IPO created 500 crorepatis in India, 70 of them are under the age of 30.
• There are many more reasons why the startup industry is cheering for the Freshworks IPO.

Apparently, the startup world can’t keep calm because not everyday does an Indian software-as-a-service (SaaS) firm get listed on a US exchange by raising $13 billion dollars on its debut day.

Icing on the cake is that the Freshworks IPO has also created a whole lot of wealth for its employees. 500 crorepatis (millionaires) in India, 70 of them are under the age of 30.

Interestingly, Girish Mathrubootham, co-founder and chief executive officer of Freshworks, who is a big fan of Rajinikanth, names the opening ceremony event on Nasdaq as ‘Project Superstar’ in tribute to the famous Indian actor.

There are many more reasons why the startup industry is cheering for the Freshworks IPO launch. Here are a few reactions from the India Inc:

Freshworks IPO is a ‘snowball moment’ for India’s SaaS industry

"An IPO is one more feather in Freshwork and Girish's hat! I strong believe they would build a long standing institution. The most gratifying part is to see the wealth created for their team, and energy they have helped propel in the India SAAS ecosystem - installing confidence in founders /to-be founders that great companies can be built from scratch. This is a snowball moment for India SAAS, and I am excited that we at Speciale are live and investing in this vibrant and growing startup ecosystem,” — Vishesh Rajaram, founder and managing partner of Speciale Invest

This startup accelerator feels this is a Neeraj Chopra moment for the industry

"Salesforce was the first SaaS IPO in the world in 2004. It served as a big inflection point for the entire SaaS Industry and which today, after 15 years, has an enterprise value of $2 trillion dollars. Freshworks - as the first Indian SaaS company to go IPO - acts as a similar inspiration to a growing number of SaaS startups from India. Every Indian SaaS founder is cherishing this moment just like the nation celebrated Neeraj Chopra winning Gold at the Olympics,” — Prasanna Krishnamoorthy, partner at Upekkha Value SaaS Accelerator

Now the important question is who will achieve this feat next?

"Successful listing of Freshworks on NASDAQ is a “Eureka” moment for the B2B SaaS sector in India which will inspire many upcoming start-ups to spread Indian product software across the globe. This feat by Freshworks showcases the potential for Indian SaaS start-ups to build globally disruptive technology product companies. It also showcases an immense amount of talent and the passion for entrepreneurship & execution the Freshworks team embodies, and we (as in the Indian startup ecosystem) are eager to find out who will achieve this feat next,” — Ankur Bansal, cofounder and director at BlackSoil

“Every SaaS founder in India would have a story or two about how they got inspired by Girish and the Freshworks story. Freshworks IPO makes the story they believed and got inspired by all the more real and their aspirations all the more possible. To the next 10 Indian SaaS IPOs!,” — Mayank Agarwal, cofounder at SendX

“Freshworks has paved the path for future SaaS Companies that are building from India and selling globally. This is just a start of what we can see in the upcoming decade where a ton of Indian SaaS Companies will be going public. As Girish had mentioned yesterday that he feels like winning an Olympic medal, it is equivalent or more and motivates the next generation of SaaS Founders to build and go public,” — Harshit Agarwal, chief executive officer at Appknox

SEE ALSO: Freshworks IPO — 500 crorepatis, $12 billion market cap and more that emerged from India’s first SaaS listing at Nasdaq

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