Startup Freshworks Recruits Veteran CFO Ahead of Planned IPO

(Bloomberg) -- Freshworks Inc. recruited industry veteran Tyler Sloat to become chief financial officer, as the Silicon Valley software startup seeks to expand its business and eventually go public.

The San Mateo, Calif.-based company has carved out a niche in providing customer relationship management tools to smaller businesses, a model pioneered by giant Salesforce.com Inc. Freshworks doubled revenues in the past 18 months to pass $200 million in annual sales, and is targeting sales of more than $1 billion in the next few years, Sloat said in an interview.

“The shift to digital customer engagement will further hasten as companies come out of the pandemic,” said Sloat, who worked as CFO at payments company Zuora Inc., including during its initial public offering.

Started in the southern Indian city of Chennai, Freshworks is led by founder and Chief Executive Officer Girish Mathrubootham and is valued at $3.5 billion, according to CB Insights. It is among the largest software-as-a-service companies to emerge out of India and still retains sizable operations there.

As lockdowns from the coronavirus push businesses online, owners are seeking out new ways to manage customers. To draw new customers, Freshworks is offering a three-month holiday from payments for companies with 50 or less employees that newly sign up for its products, said Mathrubootham.

The same virus outbreak that's boosting revenue could also delay an IPO that Freshworks has planned, Mathrubootham said. “Like a bachelor who's responsible and ready to get married, we have the scale and growth to go public,” he said. “But the timing has to be right.”