Freshworks gains 32% on Nasdaq debut after $1-bn IPO

Indian software-as-a-service company Freshworks Inc made a spectacular debut on the Nasdaq stock market in the US with its shares clocking a gain of 32% on the first day of trading.

The company’s shares listed at $43.5 apiece, up almost 21% from the initial public offering (IPO) price of $36 and then inched higher. The shares ended at $47.55 apiece, giving the company a valuation of $13.4 billion.

Freshworks’ current market capitalisation is far greater than the $3.5 billion valuation at which it had last raised funding from private investment firms less than two years ago.

The blockbuster debut came after the company raised about $1 billion by selling 28.5 million shares in the IPO. Freshworks may raise an additional amount if its underwriters exercise an overallotment option. 

The company’s IPO price was higher than its indicative range of $32-34 and the initial band of $28-32 apiece.

Freshworks joins a number of Indian companies to list on US bourses. These include Infosys and Wipro, India’s second- and third-largest software services exporters. 

However, Freshworks is the first Indian SaaS firm to hit the milestone. It is also among a number of Indian tech startups that are going public, as they mature and expand their operations. 

Already, food delivery giant Zomato, gaming company Nazara Technologies and used-car platform CarTrade have listed on Indian stock exchanges. Several others such as hospitality company Oyo as well as digital payments companies Paytm and Mobikwik are also looking to go public in coming months.

Freshworks was started by Girish Mathrubootham a decade ago in Chennai. The company’s main investors include Accel, Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital and Google parent Alphabet Inc’s investment arm CapitalG.

The company is now headquartered in San Mateo, California. Mathrubootham is now worth almost $790 million after the listing pop.

“I feel like an Indian athlete who has won a gold medal at the Olympics,” he said during the bell ringing ceremony on the Nasdaq, accompanied by his wife, two sons and colleagues.

“We are showing the world what a global product company from India can achieve. The fact that we are doing it first in the US markets is truly amazing. Today is day zero for Freshworks all over again and the beginning of so much more,” he added.