The success story of India’s first SaaS company to be listed in Nasdaq

• Freshworks made its debut in the US-based Nasdaq on September 22 and it is the first Indian SaaS company to do so.
• Freshworks was the first Indian SaaS company to achieve a billion dollar valuation, in 2019.
• The company has now crossed a $10 billion valuation, thanks to its public listing.

The Indian software-as-a-service (SaaS) industry had already been growing exponentially since last year, but Freshworks’ public listing at Nasdaq has taken it all to another level. The company, which makes customer engagement software for businesses, was valued at a whopping $12.2 billion after it opened 21% above the initial offering price of $36 apiece.

Freshworks sold 28.5 million common shares, hitting an intraday high of $48.75 on September 22.

Freshworks was founded over a decade ago by Girish Mathrubootham and Shan Krishnasamy. Both the co-founders were former employees of Zoho Corp, which too is one of the biggest SaaS companies in India. Both Zoho Corp and Freshworks are rivals and the biggest players in this industry.

Here is a glimpse of Freshworks’ journey so far:
*Freshworks has raised one funding round every year since 2011. There was a year-long break in 2017, when the SaaS firm did not raise any capital.

Freshworks and Zoho’s rivalry took a serious turn in 2020, when Zoho filed a lawsuit alleging that Freshworks stole confidential information and built a business out of it. Vembu-led company has also accused Freshworks of poaching its employees and customers. The battle is still ongoing.

According to a report by investment firm Chiratae Ventures and consulting firm Zinnov last month, the Indian SaaS segment has the potential to clock a total turnover of $75 billion by 2025. Companies like Zoho, Freshworks, and others are expected to be at the forefront of it.

Freshworks was the first Indian SaaS company to achieve a billion dollar valuation, in 2019. A year later, the company closed another round at a valuation of $3.5 billion. It is backed by some of the prominent investors across the globe — Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global, Accel, Steadview, CapitalG and more.

The company raised another billion dollars through its public issue. It’s valuation also increased over three times to $12.2 billion.

The SaaS giant has acquired 13 companies to date including AnswerI1Q, Flint, CanvasFlip, Natero, and Zarget, among others.

"I feel like an Indian athlete who has won a gold medal at the Olympics. We are showing the world what a global product company from India can achieve,” Mathrubootham said, in an interaction with Moneycontrol. He further claimed that the Freshworks IPO has made 500 crorepatis in India, 70 of which are under 30.

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