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makes software that does a lot for businesses. Founded in 2010, formerly under the name Freshdesk, the company now known as Freshworks offers cloud-based tools for sales management, recruiting, customer engagement, workplace chat, virtual call center infrastructure, and its original online help desk product. These are made available on a subscription basis both as a bundle and 脿 la carte.
Today Freshworks announced two pieces of news: one regarding new funding and the other involves a new strategic hire.
Freshworks has raised $100 million in a Series G funding round at a $1.5 billion valuation, post-money, according to a spokesperson for the company. and led the round, which also saw participation from , the (quite active) growth equity investment arm of tech conglomerate . In conjunction with the capital raised across six previous rounds since the end of 2011, this financing brings Freshworks鈥檚 total venture funding to $250 million.
The company鈥檚 last round, announced in November 2016, valued the company at $700 million, post-money, according to 附近上门 data. So in nearly two years, Freshworks managed to double its valuation and join the increasingly-crowded unicorn club.
In a statement provided by the company, , Freshworks鈥檚 co-founder and CEO, disclosed the company鈥檚 current revenue and user figures. Freshworks has 鈥$100 million in annual recurring revenue鈥 and now serves 鈥渙ver 150,000 organizations,鈥 including the NHS, Honda, Hugo Boss, Toshiba, and Cisco, among others, according to the executive.
Running on the assumption that these figures are current as of the tail-end of July 2018, we can back out some growth figures from prior disclosures from the company.
- In November 2016, when the company announced its Series F round, that the company 鈥渉as 100,000 customers, mostly small-to-medium size businesses.鈥 In the nearly two years since its Series F, the raw count of Freshworks鈥檚 customers grew at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 26 percent. At the same time, it appears that Freshworks added several big-name customers to its roles, presumably bringing in more revenue apiece than small-business customers.
- An August 2017 suggested that Freshworks pulled in 鈥渦pwards of $50 million for FY16, with the Indian operations likely contributing close to 30%.鈥 The VC Circle report also cites an article in India-focused tech publication Factor Daily which said Freshworks鈥檚 鈥渃onsolidated revenues are likely to have grown to $70 million for FY17.鈥
- In another interview with VC Circle, this time , CEO Girish Mathrubootham declined to disclose certain revenue specifics (like average revenue per user, or ARPU). 鈥淎ll I can say is that we have been registering 70% year-on-year growth over the last two years,鈥 Mathrubootham offered before continuing, 鈥淸as] for ARPU, I can only say that Freshdesk generates three times more ARPU than most of our other products.鈥
Between substantial growth in user counts, an overall improving quality of revenue, and prior statements about company growth, it鈥檚 safe to say that if Freshworks isn鈥檛 currently valued at $1 billion or more, it is close to it.
In addition to the new funding, Freshworks also announced that it鈥檚 brought on Suresh Seshadri 鈥 formerly the vice president of finance and treasury at AppDynamics 鈥 as its chief financial officer. Seshadri helped AppDynamics prepare for its initial public offering, according to a statement from Freshworks.
鈥淐oming on board to work with Girish [Mathrubootham] and the rest of the executive team is an incredible opportunity, and I am confident that we are well-positioned to reach the next phase of Freshworks鈥 expansion.鈥
Freshworks鈥檚 nine-figure funding round closes out a record month of supergiant round announcements. In July 2018, about fifty rounds topped out at $100 million or more, with some extending well past $1 billion. It鈥檚 a pattern which started years ago, and it has been amplified by firms like Sequoia and others that have raised huge new funds to feed capital-hungry companies.
Freshworks鈥檚 path to IPO may be paved with another hundred million dollars, but whether it succeeds in not just taking off from its extended runway, but becoming a soaring SaaS success, is not certain.
Stay up to date with recent funding rounds, acquisitions, and more with the 附近上门 Daily.


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