Freshworks m-cap crosses $13 bn; over 10% employees turn ‘crorepatis’
With the market capitalisation of Freshworks crossing over $13 billion on its debut day at Nasdaq Stock Exchange, around 500 employees or around 12 per cent of the company’s total staff strength of around 4,300 have become ‘crorepatis’ in India and more interestingly over 70 of them are below the age of 30 years.
When asked by the media about the wealth generation that the initial public offering has created to the employees through the employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), Girish Mathrubootham, founder and chief executive officer of Freshworks said, “I truly believe that wealth has to be shared with the people who created it, not just for the founders to get richer. More than 500 of our employees in India are crorepatis. I believe that it is well deserved and they all earned it as they all contributed to the growth.”
At one point on Wednesday, the company’s stocks were trading at around $46.24 a share, taking its market capitalisation to over $13 billion. Earlier in the day, the company opened $43.50 apiece as against the IPO price of $36, taking its valuation to over $12 billion.
Around 76 per cent of Freshworks’ 4,300 employees globally hold stock or equity rewards in the company. “This IPO has given me the opportunity to fulfil my responsibility to all those employees who have believed in Freshworks for over ten years. This is truly something that India needs to do more often.
This is going to have a life-changing impact for many employees,” he added. Interestingly, the company had started its operations in Chennai with only six members in 2010 and had only 500 employees in 2015 before touching the current level.
Freshworks is the first Indian SaaS company to get listed on Nasdaq. Mathrubootham said that he is excited to see the next set of companies going global from India. Talking about his message to upcoming start-ups, he said, “I am excited about what this means for India. We have a whole list of entrepreneurs who are building companies. We all share the dream of seeing India as the next product nation. I am excited to see the next set of companies.” Tyler Sloat, the chief financial officer of the company said that it is targeting to raise around $1 billion through the IPO.
The two largest markets for Freshworks are the US and Europe.
“Our unique strategic advantage is our access to top talent in Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. We clearly see that as a big advantage. Also, India brings the ability to service a long list of global SMB customers,” Mathrubootham added. As of June, the customers who contributed to more than $5,000 in annual recurring revenue (ARR) represented 84 per cent of the total ARR and customers with over $50,000 represented 37 per cent.
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