Key Takeaways From Salesforce Rival's $9B IPO

Freshworks Inc FRSH aims for a nearly $9 billion valuation in a U.S. initial public offering, based on the expected 278.3 million shares of Class A common stock and Class B common stock outstanding after this offering.
The San Mateo, California-based customer relationship management (CRM) solution provider proposes to sell 28.5 million shares priced at an estimated $28 - $32 to raise a maximum of up to $912 million.
Freshworks, which started in a 700 square foot warehouse in Chennai, India, in 2010, was last valued at $3.5 billion in a November 2019 financing round, TechCrunch reports. Freshworks considered raising a pre-IPO round earlier this year at a valuation of over $5 billion before dumping it.
Co-founders Rathna Girish Mathrubootham is the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, and Shanmugam Krishnasamy is the Chief Technology Officer.
The startup, which has applied for Nasdaq IPO under the symbol "FRSH," saw its revenue in the first six months of 2021 grow to $168.93 million, up from $110.47 million during the same period last year. The net loss narrowed to $(9.8) million from $(57.15) million a year ago.
Freshworks primarily faces competition from Salesforce.com Inc CRM, Zendesk Inc ZEN, ServiceNow Inc NOW, Oracle Corp ORCL, and SAP SAP, among others.
Price Action: CRM shares traded lower by 1.42% at $253.54 on the last check Monday.