Software firm Freshworks on Wednesday (local time) made its debut on the Nasdaq stock exchange after a billion-dollar initial public offering (IPO). In doing so, the company, headquartered in San Mateo in California, became the first Indian Software as a service (SaaS) enterprise to be listed on the iconic New York-based stock exchange.
Freshworks shares rose by 32 per cent after raising $1 billion in an IPO offering priced above a marketed range. The IT company's shares stood at $47.55 at New York trading closing time on Wednesday, giving it a market value of $13 billion. This resulted in more than 500 of the company’s India-based employees becoming “crorepatis” (1 crore=10 million), with around 70 of them being under 30 years of age.
Taking to Twitter, Girish Mathrubootham, CEO and co-founder of Freshworks, described its debut on Nasdaq as a “dream come true.” He tweeted, “From humble beginnings in Trichy to ringing the bell at Nasdaq for Freshworks IPO. Thank you to our employees, customer, partners and investors for believing in this dream.”
{{/usCountry}}Taking to Twitter, Girish Mathrubootham, CEO and co-founder of Freshworks, described its debut on Nasdaq as a “dream come true.” He tweeted, “From humble beginnings in Trichy to ringing the bell at Nasdaq for Freshworks IPO. Thank you to our employees, customer, partners and investors for believing in this dream.”
{{/usCountry}}“I am proud and humbled that Freshworks is now trading on Nasdaq. The journey to get here has taken 11 years, a lot of hardwork and loads of good fortune. Thank you to everyone who's been on this journey with us,” he added.
Founded in 2010 in by Mathrubootham and Shan Krishnasamy, Freshworks relocated to Silicon Valley to be closer to its customers. However, it retains a substantial workforce in Chennai. Globally, the company has 4300 employees of whom around 76 per cent hold shares in it. The firm, which also has presence in Bengaluru and Hyderabad, has raised funding from investors such as Accel and Sequoia Capital.