to instantly read 150+ free stories & 250-word summaries of all our stories

Maruti to Maybach

The Freshworks journey from zero to $100 million

Freshworks is the only home-grown Indian SaaS company to cross the $100 million ARR milestone. How did it get there? What does the future hold?

01/07/19

Sumanth Raghavendra

With a total funding of $250 million and a valuation of $1.5 billion, Freshworks became India’s first SaaS unicorn in August 2018

It expanded from a single help-desk product, Freshdesk, to a full suite of enterprise solutions

The company now services a clientele of over 150,000 businesses across more than 120 countries

How did it get so far so fast? And more importantly, can it now make it to its $1 billion dream?

doran-erickson-gdAuwo-qj5k-unsplash-1920x1080.jpg

Want to read a free 200 word summary?

June 2011.

I first saw Girish Mathrubootham* in June 2011 at a pitch competition in Bengaluru.

Mathrubootham’s startup, Freshdesk, an online customer support service, was a fledgling entity with just six small customers, and at first glance, seemed unremarkable in every way.

Read the full story. Subscribe now.

Also read our exhaustive coverage about Acquisitions and Exits, SaaS Businesses and Future of Retail

Why subscribe? Let us explain.

Already Registered?

Related stories

More stories in /Commentary & /Startups

See all in Business & Startups

This story is for subscribers only.
or

Read the full story. Subscribe now.

Also read our exhaustive coverage about Acquisitions and Exits, SaaS Businesses and Future of Retail

Why subscribe? Let us explain.

The selected story is available only for paid subscribers. Might want to change your mind!

Subscribe now

Already Registered?

Questions?

What is The Ken?

The Ken is a subscription-driven media site. We write one story a day (weekdays only). These stories have sharp, original insights on technology, business, science and healthcare from India.

Why do I have to sign up to read your stories?

Our stories are not free. Well, some select stories are. But, a significant part of what we write at The Ken is for subscribers only. We put in a lot of effort and resources in writing our stories and believe that you must pay for good journalism.
Hence, our three plans. 1) The annual membership
2) The free sign up
3) The recurring quarterly subscription

On journalism and why you should pay for it, if you haven’t already seen it, here’s a great explainer from John Oliver.

So, one must pay for journalism?

Yes.

How many stories will I get if I take an annual membership?

895+ stories.

And, in the free sign up?

Four stories every month.

Do I get a refund?

We allow you to sample our journalism for free before signing up, and after you do, we stand by its quality. But we do not offer refunds.

I am not getting my daily emails. Do I have to whitelist emails from The Ken?

An added benefit of your subscription (free/paid) are the daily personalised emails. These emails, at times, might end up in your spam/junk folder due to emojis, attachments or images. In case you’re not receiving these emails, it might help to whitelist us. If the problem still persists, write to us at [email protected].

Why am I unable to access the archives?

Full and unrestricted access to our archives is a feature of our annual membership.

My payment is not going through, what can I do?

Please write to us at [email protected] detailing the payment error or queries.

See all FAQs

    See all results for Ken

    No results found for Ken.