By CapitalG investors Gene Frantz & Jamie Rosen
Huge congratulations to Girish, Shan and the entire Freshworks team on making history as the first B2B SaaS company founded in India to go public in the U.S.
When we first met Girish Mathrubootham in 2014, it was evident that
For one thing, Girish and his co-founder/CTO Shan Krishnasamy started Freshworks in Chennai, India, a city with tremendous technical talent but which hadn’t yet produced many break-away software titans. From our earliest conversations with Girish, it was clear that he was a true product visionary. During our first meeting I kept thinking that I didn’t want to leave without an agreement for CapitalG to invest in Freshworks. That’s not typical in growth investing, but Girish was so compelling and his vision so extraordinary that I knew immediately that we’d be fortunate to partner with him. Luckily, he invited us in to invest, and we’ve been thrilled to support Freshworks all of the years since.
Freshworks has always committed to continuous innovation in pursuit of the best customer experience. While the original vision involved creating a ‘fresh’ helpdesk experience, Freshworks rapidly expanded its vision and platform to meet business needs across customer service, IT service management and sales and marketing automation. From the earliest days, Freshworks’ customer acquisition strategy has reflected a clear understanding of customer needs for products that are modern, easy-to-use, offer speed-to-value, and are affordable for companies of all sizes.
As it continued to focus on these principles over time, Freshworks expanded its outbound sales team and partner network to serve larger customers; today, the company has over $300 million in revenue for the 12-month period ended June 30, 2021 and serves approximately 52,500 customers across more than 120 countries.
Freshworks has made history as the first B2B SaaS company founded in India to go public in the U.S. — an achievement that would not have been possible without Girish and his team’s willingness to challenge the status quo to provide a superior customer experience. Its success is an inspiration to Indian entrepreneurs and builders across the world. It embodies so many of the attributes we look for in our companies, from steadfast commitment to customer experience and visionary product leadership, to an innovative go-to-market strategy and exceptional team-building. In Girish’s words, Freshworks “blended the art of Indian design with the science of Silicon Valley scaling” to build a remarkable company.
Congratulations to Girish, Shan and the entire Freshworks team. You’ve built a platform thousands of customers love, as well as a strong and enduring company and culture that will motivate the next generation of entrepreneurs. It has been an incredible journey to watch you make history and delight customers. We are thrilled to be your partners, and can’t wait to see what you accomplish next.