Freshworks has filed for an IPO in the Nasdaq Global Select market for up to $100 Mn, but there is yet to be clarity on how it plans to raise the said capital
Freshworks offers customer engagement software for businesses of all sizes; it claims to have more than 50 K companies that use its services
For the fiscal that ended in December 2020, Freshworks’ CEO Girish Mathrubootham had a net home takeaway of INR 79 Cr, while CFO Tyler Sloat and CRO Jose Morales took home INR 106 Cr and INR 105 Cr respectively
Freshworks has joined the list of unicorns that have filed for an IPO. The SaaS solution provider has filed for its initial public offering of up to $100 Mn. The company is yet to specify whether it will raise the capital by issuing fresh shares or by offloading shares of existing investors, or a mix of both.
The startup’s class A common stocks will be listed on the Nasdaq Global Select market under FRSH ticker symbol.
Freshworks said it will use the net proceeds for strategic investment in complementary business, products, services and technologies and acquisitions. It has appointed Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, BofA Securities, Jefferies and Barclays, among others, as book managers to the IPO.
Founded in 2010 by Girish Mathrubhootham and Shan Krishnasamy, Freshworks offers customer engagement software for businesses of all sizes. It presently claims to have more than 50,000 companies that use its SaaS solution to enable a better customer experience (CRM, CX) and employee experience (ITSM, HRSM).
Until June 2021, Freshworks revenue saw an uptick of 52.9%, from $110.4 Mn for the same period in 2020 to $168.9 Mn in 2021. The startup is backed by marquee investors including Tiger Global, Steadview Capital, and Sequoia Capital.
Here’s a look at the key people leading Freshworks as it ventures into the public market:
Girish Mathrubootham, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman
Mathrubhootham has been the acting CEO and member of the board since 2010. He was nominated as the chairman of the company in 2021. Before cofounding Freshworks, he has served in various leadership roles with Zoho for almost a decade. Mathrubootham’s SaaS startup has been engaged in a legal tussle with competitor and former company Zoho on account of data theft. Though the founder outrightly denies the allegation the case is still impending a verdict in the US court.
Mathrubootham completed his BE in electrical and electronics from Shanmugha Arts, Science, Technology and Research Academy and an MBA from the University of Madras.
For the fiscal that ended on 31 December 2020, Mathrubootham took a net salary of INR 79 Cr ($10,746,428).
Tyler Sloat, Chief Financial Officer
Tyler Sloat, who started his journey at Freshworks in April 2020, has over a decade long career in the technology industry. Before his stint at Freshworks, he served as the vice president of Obopay, Inc — a mobile payments technology company. During his tenure, Sloat was promoted to chief financial officer, a position he remained in until he transitioned to Zuora, Inc. — a subscription service management software company. For the fiscal that ended on 31 December 2020, he took home a remuneration of INR 106 Cr ($14,469,067).
Stacey Epstein, Chief Marketing Officer
Freshworks’ CMO since March 2021, Stacey Epstein started her career in early 2007 as the global vice president of marketing at HR firm SuccessFactors, which was acquired by SAP in 2011. She then graduated to ServiceMax, a field service company, as the CMO and went on to serve as the CEO of Zinc Inc, which ServiceMax acquired in 2019. She is also a member of the board of CircleCI, a cloud platform that enables continuous integration and delivery and Litmus, an email-based marketing solution provider.
Jose Morales, Chief Revenue Officer
Jose Morales, a part of Freshworks since October 2020, has served as the Head of Global Field Operations for software development giant Atlassian before starting his career in the company. At Atlassian, he took care of its field operations organisation which included direct sales, partner programs, services, and other key go-to-market functions.For the fiscal year that ended on 31 December 2020, Morales received a remuneration of INR 105 Cr ($14,350,224).
Srinivasagopalan Ramamurthy, Chief Product Officer
The chief product officer since 2019, Ramamurthy started his career as the senior vice president of product and technology at Oblix, which was acquired by Oracle Corporation. He was also an outside advisor on strategic business decisions for escrow services company States Title. He eventually went on to become an operating partner of Trinity Ventures, a VC firm focused on investments in early-stage technology companies.. For the fiscal year that ended on 31 December 2020, he received a remuneration of INR 2.71 Cr ($370,000).
