Freshworks raises $150 mn from Google, Sequoia, Accel: Report

Software-as-a-service company Freshworks has raised $150 million, in what is being called as pre-IPO funding round, from returning investors technology major Google and venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and Accel, news portal Moneycontrol reported citing sources.

The latest round, which is the eighth since Freshworks first raised capital in 2011, is likely to set the benchmark for the valuations of the company at the time of its proposed initial public offering (IPO). Post the latest round, the company is valued at $3.5 billion, the report said.

Freshworks could raise more funds before listing its shares by 2021, as per the report

So far Freshworks has raised $249 million from investors such as Google’s parent Alphabet and US-based hedge fund Tiger Global Management.

The software-as-a-service provider offers cloud-based solutions for customer support, call centre operations, internal collaborations and marketing automation for enterprises across several sectors. Freshdesk, its flagship product, allows companies to conduct customer service operations from remote locations.

In August, Freshworks reported a 61% on-year growth in its billables in the April-June quarter. The company is also expanding in new areas including Australia and the Asia Pacific.

Freshworks, earlier known as Freshdesk, was founded in 2010 by Girish Mathrubootham and Shan Krishnasamy. In 2017, the company renamed itself as Freshworks to position itself as multi-product entity. It competes with other software makers such as Zoho and US-based Salesforce.

Bridgestone, Hugo Boss, University of Pennsylvania, Cisco and Toshiba are among the customers of the company.