Nasdaq-listed Freshworks launches unified CRM solutions for start-ups

Nasdaq-listed Freshworks, considered as the poster boy of Indian SaaS (software as a service) space after its listing in September, has launched a customer relationship management (CRM) platform for start-ups named Freshstack that can cater to various needs like customer support, sales and marketing teams.

As part of Freshworks Startup Program, companies can get going with up to $3,000 in credits for Freshstack. “We have more than 52,500 customers. We want to help the companies of the future. This is an investment for us into the future and not looking at it as a short-term revenue initiative,” Freshworks firm’s founder and chief executive officer Girish Mathrubootham said on Wednesday.

Mathrubootham, along with Eka Software founder Manav Garg, had launched Together Fund, a venture capital vehicle with an initial corpus of $85 million, early this year. “We have made a few investments already. First one is coming anytime soon. We wanted to find 20-25 top teams and invest in them. It is an $85 million fund that will look ahead for more corpus after deploying that,” he said. “There are 15 start-ups evolved from ex-Freshworks folks. We have always been supportive to them … they call it Freshworks mafia,” he added.

Early this month, Freshworks had reportedly initiated a share sale worth over $500 million allowing its employees to cash out up to 20 per cent of their holding. When asked about this, Mathrubootham said, “The sales by the management only covers sell-to-cover transactions required to pay taxes. None from the management can sell their stocks. Now, employees can seel on their own.”

The product bundle launched on Thursday will help startups to personalize marketing to generate pipeline, deliver effortless omnichannel service and grow faster, at an affordable price point that's easy to deploy and manage. The company said that its research indicates that the biggest-ticket purchase in the typical startup toolkit is a CRM application and the second most common reason a startup fails is because they run out of cash, avoiding overpaying for legacy software is a top priority for any early-stage company.

“Startup founders should ensure that their developers are focused on building their core technology, not babysitting their CRM stack. From day one, Freshworks has built products that democratize access to modern, easy-to-use software. Freshstack builds on that commitment by helping the titans of tomorrow get going faster today,” he said. Today, around 20 per cent of the world’s unicorns use Freshworks products for their customers and employees, the company said. Freshworks had launched a dedicated Startup Program in 2019, which has helped more than 2,500 startups with critical resources and mentorship so far.

Freshstack includes Freshdesk, which is an omnichannel customer support solution with a new unified inbox and collaboration functionality across support, sales and marketing teams, to help businesses resolve issues faster. Freshsales, a unified sales intelligence solution with context-driven forecasting and pipeline management, Freshmarketer, a marketing automation software that enables AI-driven lead generation, email personalization and send optimization are also part of that. In addition to this, Fresstack will give access to the Freshworks Marketplace with hundreds of apps to customize the CRM suite to a stat-ups needs.