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Freshworks Ranked Number 16 On 2020 Forbes Cloud 100

Customer engagement software leader continues impressive momentum, jumping 24 places from 2019 listing

SAN MATEO, Calif September 16, 2020

 Freshworks Inc., the customer engagement software company, today announced it ranked number 16 on the Forbes 2020 Cloud 100, alongside other industry visionaries like Snowflake Inc., Stripe, Inc. and Asana, Inc. This marks the fourth consecutive year Freshworks has been recognized on this definitive list of the top 100 private cloud companies in the world, published by Forbes in partnership with Bessemer Venture Partners and Salesforce Ventures

“With the world rushing to cloud technologies, Freshworks’ impressive showing on the Forbes Cloud 100 list means more than ever and separates our strategy from others in the space,” said Girish Mathrubootham, CEO and Founder of Freshworks. “Our leap up the list is a testament to the creativity and perseverance of our entire team and the innovations we have made over the past year — underscoring that technology focused on building customers for life is more important than ever in these demanding times.” 

Freshworks first appeared on this list in 2017 at No. 95, moving up to No. 60 in 2018, No. 40 in 2019 and now No. 16 this year.  As part of the rigorous selection process for the Forbes 2020 Cloud 100, Bessemer Venture Partners received submissions from hundreds of cloud startups. The Cloud 100 Judging Panel, made up of public cloud company CEOs, reviewed the data to select, score, and rank the top 100 private cloud companies from all over the world. The evaluation process involved ranking companies across four factors: market leadership (35%), estimated valuation (30%), operating metrics (20%), and people & culture (15%).

“The private cloud ecosystem continues to mature in light of rapid digital transformations, making the competition to land one of the coveted spots on the Cloud 100 list steeper than ever,” said Byron Deeter, a top cloud investor, and partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. “Private cloud valuations are getting bigger as the market’s appetite for cloud continues to grow. Over the past five years, the average Cloud 100 valuation has grown by a tremendous 2.5x, from $1 billion in 2016 to $2.7 billion in 2020. In fact, our 2020 Cloud 100 includes over 87 private cloud unicorns! These founders represent the absolute best in cloud computing today, and they will most certainly follow in the footsteps of our esteemed Cloud 100 alumni. More than a third of the companies of the Cloud 100 have exited either via strategic M&A, financial M&A or Initial Public Offering. Congratulations to these cloud leaders!”

“In the face of this unprecedented time, digital is an urgent imperative, and the pace of innovation is accelerating. Companies around the globe, across all industries must adopt cloud technologies to enable their digital transformation,” said Matt Garratt, Managing Partner, Salesforce Ventures. “The opportunity is massive for the cloud -- there are now more than 25 public SaaS companies valued at over $10 billion whereas even five years ago there were only three. Sectors from collaboration and security to retail and healthcare, are being disrupted and becoming more digital. Salesforce Ventures is excited to be partnering with Bessemer Venture Partners and Forbes for the fifth year in a row to recognize those who are not just predicting what’s coming but working to create the future.”

“For five years now, we have ranked the best and brightest emerging companies in the cloud sector,” said Alex Konrad, Forbes editor of The Cloud 100. “With so many businesses growing fast in the cloud, from data infrastructure to marketing, it’s harder than ever to make the Cloud 100 list – but with more elite company if you do. Congratulations to each of the 2020 Cloud 100 honorees and the 20 Rising Stars honorees poised to join their ranks!”

The Forbes 2020 Cloud 100 and 20 Rising Stars lists are published online at www.forbes.com/cloud100 and will appear in the September 2020 issue of Forbes magazine.

The Cloud 100 and the 20 Rising Stars companies are publicly recognized at this year’s first-ever virtual Cloud 100 with memorable discussions from top cloud CEOs at thecloud100.com on September 16th from 9:00am PT - 12:00pm PT hosted by Bessemer Venture Partners, Salesforce Ventures, and Forbes. A special thank you to our virtual event sponsors Amazon Web Services (AWS), Bank of America, Cooley, FuelxMcKinsey, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Nasdaq, Qatalyst Partners, Silicon Valley Bank, Simon-Kucher & Partners, and WisdomTree.

About Bessemer Venture Partners

Bessemer Venture Partners is the world's most experienced early-stage venture capital firm. With a portfolio of more than 200 companies, Bessemer helps visionary entrepreneurs lay strong foundations to create companies that matter, and supports them through every stage of their growth. The firm has backed more than 120 IPOs, including Pinterest, Shopify, Yelp, LinkedIn, Skype, LifeLock, Twilio, SendGrid, PagerDuty, DocuSign, Wix, and MindBody. Bessemer's 15 partners operate from offices in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, New York City, Boston, Israel, and India. For more information, please visit www.bvp.com.

About Forbes

The defining voice of entrepreneurial capitalism, Forbes champions success by celebrating those who have made it, and those who aspire to make it. Forbes convenes and curates the most influential leaders and entrepreneurs who are driving change, transforming business and making a significant impact on the world. The Forbes brand today reaches more than 160 million people worldwide through its trusted journalism, signature LIVE and Forbes Virtual events, custom marketing programs and 40 licensed local editions in 70 countries. Forbes Media’s brand extensions include real estate, education and financial services license agreements. For more information, visit the Forbes News Hub or Forbes Connect.

About Salesforce Ventures

Salesforce is the global leader in Customer Relationship Management (CRM), bringing companies closer to their customers in the digital age. Salesforce Ventures, the global investment arm of Salesforce, invests in the next generation of enterprise technology that extends the power of the Salesforce Platform. Salesforce Ventures is building the world's largest ecosystem of enterprise cloud companies and extending that technology to customers. Portfolio companies receive funding, strategic advisory, and operating support, and can easily join Pledge 1% to make giving back part of their business model. Salesforce Ventures has invested in more than 400 companies, including DocuSign, GoCardless, Guild Education, nCino, Twilio, Zoom, and others across 22 countries since 2009. For more information, please visit www.salesforce.com/ventures.

About Freshworks

Freshworks provides innovative customer engagement software for businesses of all sizes, making it easy for teams to acquire, close and keep their customers for life. Freshworks SaaS products provide a 360-degree view of the customer, are ready to go, easy to use and offer quick return on investment. Headquartered in San Mateo, California, Freshworks’ 3,000+ team members work in offices throughout the world.  For more information visit www.freshworks.com

© 2020 Freshworks Inc. All rights reserved. Freshworks, Freshdesk, Freshservice, Freshsales, Freshchat, Freshcaller, Freshteam, Freshmarketer, Freshrelease, Freshsuccess, and the Freshworks logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Freshworks Inc.

Media Contact: pr@freshworks.com