Benzinga | Sep 13, 2021 03:41PM EDT

Key Takeaways From Salesforce Rival's $9B IPO

* Freshworks Inc (NASDAQ: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 (NYSE:CRM), Zendesk Inc (NYSE:ZEN), ServiceNow Inc (NYSE:NOW), Oracle Corp (NYSE:ORCL), and SAP (NYSE:SAP), among others.

* Price Action: CRM shares traded lower by 1.42% at $253.54 on the last check Monday.