In the News

Delighting Customers

Ideas can come from anywhere. Sometimes it could be staring you right in the face for years and you may not see it. Luckily for Girish Mathrubootham, his eureka moment happened by accident. In mid-2010, the techie was browsing through Hacker News, a web community for geeks, where he read that online customer support company Zendesk had increased its rates by 60-300%, leaving its customers very unhappy.

One irate customer had remarked that there was a huge opening in the market for someone with a product at the right price. “It was like a slap on my face for not seeing the business opportunity in customer support, especially since I had been building on-premise helpdesk systems since 2004 at Zoho,” recalls 37-year-old Mathrubootham, who was a vice-president at the Chennai-based customer relationship management (CRM) software company at the time. Continue Reading >>

Freshdesk Launches Free Support Ticketing Plan for Startups

Customer support software company Freshdesk took the plunge into the freemium space on Monday, launching its “forever free” Sprout plan, geared towards serving growing startups with overflowing email inboxes.

The plan, pared down to the absolute essentials, was created to help small businesses and startups transition from email-based customer support to a more organized and dedicated system of ticketing, says Vikram Bhaskaran, Continue Reading >>

The Rise of Entrepreneurship In Chennai, India

Once known as the Detroit of India because of its automobile industry, Chennai is getting much of its current economic growth from the information technology sector. Chennai has a highly literate population and the availability of skilled technical talent at a reasonable price-point, over time, has attracted many multinational companies to set up their operations in the city.

The more interesting story, however, is the rise of entrepreneurship in Chennai, a relatively new phenomenon. Below are three that have done particularly well. Continue Reading >>

Freshdesk takes the fight to larger competitors after a year of massive growth

When you’re an up-and-comer in a competitive industry, there’s a time to keep your head down and focus on execution and a time for brass-knuckle tactics. For Accel-backed virtual customer support startup Freshdesk, the time has arrived for hyper-aggressive moves following a year of impressive growth in a hotly contested market.

Today, the company announced a “Refresh Offer” aimed at siphoning off competitors’ customers. Specifically Continue Reading >>

All for his customers

This is the story of how a simple comment online (Hacker News, Zendesk’s pricing policy) on expensive and poor quality helpdesk services inspired a man to launch something in an effort to provide better services at a low cost.

In his role as VP of product management at Zoho Corporation for several years, Girish Mathrubhootham built several successful products in the IT management domain. He has over 13 years of experience in making and marketing IT management products. At Zoho Mathrubhootham realised there weren’t many customer service providers. In June 2010 he launched Freshdesk with partner, Shan Krishnaswamy with an initial investment of `35-40 lakh and a loan of $50,000 from friends. Continue Reading >>

Power of Ideas 2012: How Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai are catching up to startup culture

Bangalore has consistently emerged as the best place to launch and nurture startups in the country. Access to a deep talent pool and risk capital has helped the city catapult to the top. But Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai and Hyderabad are catching up, finds Team ET. Continue Reading >>

A Help Desk for Mobile Apps- Freshdesk-MobiHelp

Mobile app developers have to put in a lot of work to not only create apps, but also to maintain and fix any problems along the way. The problem for many is finding a way to receive customer feedback without negatively impacting the app’s public reputation. That’s why help desk provider Freshdesk developed its new in-app solution, MobiHelp. Continue Reading >>

Freshdesk Introduces A Help Desk for Mobile Apps With MobiHelp

Mobile app developers have to put in a lot of work to not only create apps, but also to maintain and fix any problems along the way. The problem for many is finding a way to receive customer feedback without negatively impacting the app’s public reputation. That’s why help desk provider Freshdesk developed its new in-app solution, MobiHelp. Continue Reading >>

Freshdesk’s MobiHelp SDK helps developers engage with consumers right from their iOS apps

Cloud-based customer support platform Freshdesk unveiled MobiHelp SDK for iOS developers, allowing them to improve customer support within mobile applications. On the other hand, customers get the option to complain about some feature and ask for improvement/change rather than (just) giving an app a bad review in the AppStore. Continue Reading >>

Freshdesk Launches MobiHelp, the Free in-app Help Desk Plugin That Enables iOS Developers to Engage with Users Right From their Apps

Today Freshdesk, the fastest growing cloud-based customer support platform, announces the debut of MobiHelp, a free mobile SDK for iOS developers. MobiHelp is designed to solve the growing problem of poor customer support within mobile applications. With over 750,000 iOS apps for users to choose from, ease of use and the ability to give real-time feedback is often the difference between viral adoption and just deleting an app.

Disgruntled consumers go into the iTunes store and give apps bad reviews and low ratings, and complaints become guesswork for developers to fix issues. With MobiHelp, Freshdesk reengineered and streamlined its innovative and comprehensive help desk platform for use within iOS applications. Continue Reading >>

Freshdesk launches mobile software development kit for iOS developers

SaaS-based customer support platform Freshdesk has launched a free mobile software development kit (SDK) for iOS developers, which it claims, will help identify and solve issues related to customer support within mobile apps.

Set up in 2010 by Girish Mathrubootham and Shan Krishnasamy, the Chennai-based startup said that the new kit called MobiHelp would enable developers to integrate the Freshdesk help desk into their apps with just a single line of code in order to identify critical issue areas and complete the conversation loop with their users. Continue Reading >>

Freshdesk launches free SDK to provide in-app customer support for iOS apps

In June, Google decided to update Google Play with a very useful feature for developers: the ability to respond to the user reviews attached to their apps in the store. The feature is an important one, allowing developers to respond to criticisms, provide updates on necessary upcoming fixes, and perhaps most importantly, communicate directly with their users. Google’s decision to introduce the feature made it clear the App Store needs to revamp its customer support—and developers agreed. Continue Reading >>

A little help from your friends at FreshDesk

Today Freshdesk, the fastest growing cloud-based customer support platform, announces the debut of MobiHelp, a free mobile SDK for iOS developers. MobiHelp is designed to solve the growing problem of poor customer support within mobile applications. With over 750,000 iOS apps for users to choose from, ease of use and the ability to give real-time feedback is often the difference between viral adoption and just deleting an app.

Disgruntled consumers go into the Apple App Store and give apps bad reviews and low ratings, and complaints become guesswork for developers to fix issues. With MobiHelp, Freshdesk reengineered and streamlined its innovative and comprehensive help desk platform for use within iOS applications. Continue Reading >>

Freshdesk launches MobiHelp, developers can integrate in app customer support to iOS apps now

Cloud based customer support platform Freshdesk has launched MobiHelp, a free mobile software development kit for Apple’s iOS developers. With MobiHelp, developers can integrate their Freshdesk help desk to apps with a line of code.

Developers get to use all the customer support capabilities in Freshdesk to automate workflows, identify critical issue areas and complete the conversation loop with their users. Continue Reading >>

Freshdesk's new MobiHelp SDK enables direct customer support for iOS apps

One of the key complaints from iOS developers is they can't directly respond to feedback from their users.

Instead, this situation typically ends in one star iTunes reviews, even when the issue could be easily resolved - a developer's worst nightmare.

Presumably Apple will get around to an official solution at some point, but in the meantime, cloud-based US/Indian customer support outfit Freshdesk is rolling out its version. Continue Reading >>

Freshdesk Launches FreshPlugs; Support Teams Can Now Integrate Third Party Data Into Their Help Desk

Today Freshdesk, the online customer support platform, announces the debut of FreshPlugs, allowing customer service teams to bring real-time consumer information from any third party applications right into their help desk. Freshdesk also brings screen sharing into customer support, with its integration with LogMeIn Rescue. With this integration, agents and consumers can see the same problem on screen simultaneously and in real time. Continue Reading >>

Freshdesk launches FreshPlugs for real-time information from third-party services

FreshPlugs is a customizable support solution where service departments can integrate data from any third-party tools, databases, legacy systems or applications.

Bringing different data sources together should provide ways for support teams to find better solutions as well as being able to monitor specific areas for a better insight into the context behind a situation and customer habits. Continue Reading >>

Freshdesk Launches FreshPlugs to Give Support Teams Access to Third Party Data for Smarter Customer Service

Today Freshdesk, the fastest growing online customer support platform on the planet, announces the debut of FreshPlugs, allowing customer service teams to bring real-time consumer information from any third party applications right into their help desk. Freshdesk also brings screen sharing into customer support, with its integration with LogMeIn Rescue. With this integration, agents and consumers can see the same problem on screen simultaneously and in real time. Continue Reading >>

Can Gamification Make Customer Support Fun?

Help desk software company Freshdesk launched its new gamified help desk product, Freskdesk Arcade, on Monday.

The platform enables agents to win points and earn badges for completing customer support tasks, including customizable games that can be created to align with business goals, as highlighted in the video above. Agents can level up from “Support Newbies” to “Help Gurus” and earn all kinds of digital bling, such as the “Speed Racer” and “Customer Wow Champ” trophies. Potentially the most coveted trophy of all, is the “Most Valuable Player” trophy, awarded monthly to top scorers. Continue Reading >>

Freshdesk Wants To Make Customer Service Fun With Game Mechanics

Today Freshdesk announced Freshdesk Arcade, a new game mechanics system for its web-based help desk software.

Freshdesk Arcade will award points based on several factors, including the amount of time it takes to close a ticket, whether an issue is resolved in one call, and customer satisfaction. Points can be tracked through internal leaderboards, and agents will be able to rise through several levels, starting with “Support Newbie” and rising to “Support Guru.” Continue Reading >>

Techcircle SaaS Forum 2012 announces top 10 SaaS startups in India

The two-year-old startup offers on-demand customer support software and provides multi-channel social support (e-mail, website and social networks like Twitter and Facebook) for businesses. It’s on the Cloud, which means it’s inexpensive, can be set up within a few minutes and can be operated from anywhere. Currently, Freshdesk has more than 1,000 global customers across 50 countries, out of which more than half are paid subscribers. Continue Reading >>

Freshdesk announces its HTML5 app for customer support agents on mobile devices

Freshdesk, the cloud-based customer support platform, has released FreshMobile, the mobile app version of its help desk solution.

FreshMobile is an HTML5 mobile application for customer support teams to manage and resolve their help desk duties from any device’s mobile browser without having to download an app. Continue Reading >>

Freshdesk Launches FreshMobile

Freshdesk, a provider of customer support platforms, today released FreshMobile, the mobile app version of its help desk solution.

With this latest addition, Freshdesk can now support agents with an HTML5 mobile app. Support teams across the globe can resolve tickets and manage their help desks from any device's mobile browser at any time without the need to download an app. Continue Reading >>

Freshdesk takes swing at rival Zendesk with HTML5 mobile app

Online help-desk software vendor Freshdesk is hoping to draw a fresh contrast between itself and rival Zendesk with a new HTML5-based mobile application, announced Tuesday.

Freshdesk and Zendesk are known for their feud centering on whether Freshdesk, a newer company than Zendesk, was a "ripoff" based on the use of the word "desk" in its name. Apparently seeing the value in any type of publicity, whether negative or not, Freshdesk put up a website detailing the blow-by-blow. Continue Reading >>

Freshdesk Releases HTML5 Mobile Site for Customer Support

Freshdesk officials today rolled out a mobile site version of the company’s flagship online customer support software.

On the Go Customer Help, Regardless of Device

The offering — dubbed FreshMobile — enables users worldwide to resolve tickets, manage email templates and respond to customer queries from an interface catered to tablets and smartphones. Unlike native mobile applications, Freshdesk developers used HTML5 coding to optimize navigation regardless of the device type or operating system.

FreshMobile integrates features that streamline the mobile work experience in several ways. Intelligent algorithms, for example, serve up suggested resolutions from the knowledge base using keywords in the customer ticket. This saves the agent from re-typing search terms in the knowledge base. Once the correct resolution is selected, FreshMobile immediately provides the corresponding preset response. Continue Reading >>

Freshdesk Takes Swing at Rival Zendesk With HTML5 Mobile App

Online help-desk software vendor Freshdesk is hoping to draw a fresh contrast between itself and rival Zendesk with a new HTML5-based mobile application, announced Tuesday.

Freshdesk and Zendesk are known for their feud centering on whether Freshdesk, a newer company than Zendesk, was a "ripoff" based on the use of the word "desk" in its name. Apparently seeing the value in any type of publicity, whether negative or not, Freshdesk put up a website detailing the blow-by-blow. Continue Reading >>

Freshdesk takes swing at rival Zendesk with HTML5 mobile app

Online help-desk software vendor Freshdesk is hoping to draw a fresh contrast between itself and rival Zendesk with a new HTML5-based mobile application, announced Tuesday.

Freshdesk and Zendesk are known for their feud centering on whether Freshdesk, a newer company than Zendesk, was a "ripoff" based on the use of the word "desk" in its name. Apparently seeing the value in any type of publicity, whether negative or not, Freshdesk put up a website detailing the blow-by-blow. Continue Reading >>

Freshdesk takes swing at rival Zendesk with HTML5 mobile app

Online help-desk software vendor Freshdesk is hoping to draw a fresh contrast between itself and rival Zendesk with a new HTML5-based mobile application, announced Tuesday.

Freshdesk and Zendesk are known for their feud centering on whether Freshdesk, a newer company than Zendesk, was a "ripoff" based on the use of the word "desk" in its name. Apparently seeing the value in any type of publicity, whether negative or not, Freshdesk put up a website detailing the blow-by-blow. Continue Reading >>

CRM Should Be Added To Every Service Your Company Uses. Make Support Your Sales Team.

Freshdesk, a social help desk service, recently announced integration with SugarCRM and Salesforce.com. I think this integration is important for two reasons.

1. The help desk software can now tie into the customer and sales knowledge base of a company.
2. The support team can be enlisted to help more with customer service, and upsells. Continue Reading >>

Freshdesk announces integration with SugarCRM and Salesforce.com

Customer support has been evolving and embracing social technologies to better connect with customers. Some companies are embracing social and integrating social streams into the CRM process.

In an ideal world, when customers submit support queries, support agents should be able to see which sales person closed the deal and who is currently working with them. This would give support teams more information and insight to prioritize issues and determine the amount of attention needed for each request. Continue Reading >>

Freshdesk offers a whiff of fresh air from the Indian SaaS space

Early this year, the founders of the US and India-based SaaS-based customer support startup Freshdesk Inc were in a big dilemma although elated. Even in a cash-strapped environment, as many as eight investors were ready to invest in the company at a multi-million dollar valuation, but the founders were not sure whether to take the money and from whom to take it.

For Freshdesk had raised Series A funding of $1 million from Accel Partners only a few months ago, which was also hotly bid by three or four venture capital firms. Finally, in April this year, they accepted $5 million in Series B funding from the existing investor Accel Partners, and who else, but Tiger Global Management, another large Internet investor in India (Also see The believers: Top 5 investors in Indian Internet biz). Continue Reading >>

Lessons from 50 start-ups: How Freshdesk is providing digital support for customer woes

Girish Mathrubootham and Shan Krishnasamy were senior executives at enterprise software maker Zoho when they spotted a gap to build a customer support platform.

The two founded Freshdesk in 2010 as a platform that integrates traditional support channels like phone and email with social channels like Twitter and Facebook. Continue Reading >>

CRM Idol 2012: Let the Games Begin!

Each year, as many of you all know, we run CRM Idol. This is year 2 so we are still babes in the woods and learning but because we have an amazing braintrust in Brent Leary, Esteban Kolsky, Denis Pombriant, Jesus Hoyos, Laurence Buchanan, Mark Tamis and Silvana Buljan, (and me) we just make improvements both from year to year and on the fly.

Well, this morning, we announced the provisional contestants for CRM Idol 2012. Here’s what we published on the site with the names of those who are going to compete: Continue Reading >>

Freshdesk launches Future Fund to help startups provide better customer care

Freshdesk, the online help desk service is providing a boost for startups with the launch of its Future Fund. The initiative will provide 501 new companies with $10m worth of Freshdesk’s cloud-based support solution for one year.

The company feels that getting up close to startup culture will help it to share and spread the entrepreneurial spirit and as a result, Freshdesk is teaming up with leading technology incubators including: YouWeb, Tandem Entrepreneurs, Internet India Fund, 500 Startups and Proudly Made in DC.

Through the fund, startups can get up to three full-time customer support agents on Freshdesk’s Garden plan free for an entire year. The plan includes multi-channel support capabilities with which startups can support their customers through email, phone, their website, Facebook and Twitter. Continue Reading >>

Freshdesk Launches $10M “Future Fund” To Bring Free Help Desk Support To 500+ Startups

Freshdesk is trying to make waves in cloud customer support. Launched in June of last year, the young company is on a mission to help businesses of all sizes manage customer service through both traditional channels, like email and phone, as well on social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Earlier this week, Freshdesk added to its customer support suite, launching support for private customer messages via the new Brand Pages Facebook launched back in February. This means that, using the new Pages, customers can initiate private conversations with brands, with the ability to share the kind of sensitive information they wouldn’t post publicly on Facebook or Twitter, like passwords and credit card numbers.

Freshdesk said that it’s the first customer support platform to offer this kind of integration, a shot across the bow of its two largest and well-established competitors, Zendesk and Salesforce’s Desk.com. To compete, the startup is making a push to differentiate its platform, adding private messaging via Brand Pages on top of what it believes is its core differentiator: Allowing its customers to support and manage multiple products and brands from one simple web interface. Continue Reading >>

Freshdesk Announces Free Customer Support Software for 501 Refreshing Startups

Today Freshdesk, the fast growing online help desk solution, announces the Freshdesk Future Fund, through which it will equip startups, sponsored by select incubators, with its cutting edge customer support solution free for three full time support agents for a whole year.

Startups have their finger on the pulse when it comes to new technologies and disruptive ideas. In order to capitalize on this innovative spirit, Freshdesk is teaming up with leading technology incubators and angel funds including: YouWeb, Tandem Entrepreneurs, Internet India Fund, 500 Startups and Proudly Made in DC. Continue Reading >>

Freshdesk Adds Support For Private Customer Service Messages On Facebook

It looks like customer support via Facebook is about to get more useful, thanks to a new feature from startup Freshdesk.

Freshdesk helps businesses manage their customer service through traditional channels like email and phone, as well as social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Now it’s integrating with the messaging feature that was part of the new Brand Pages that Facebook launched in February. In the new Pages, users can send a private message to a brand the first time, and brands can respond. Continue Reading >>

Tiger Global, Accel invest Rs 25 crore in Freshdesk

Technology product start-up Freshdesk has raised about Rs 25 crore ($5 million) from international fund, Tiger Global, and existing investor, Accel Partners, said Girish Mathrubootham, cofounder of the company. Tiger Global led the investment round.

The start-up had received about Rs 5 crore ($1 million) in seed investment from Accel in October last year. Founded in 2010 by Mathrubootham and Shan Krishnasamy, both former senior executives of enterprise software maker Zoho, Freshdesk offers a cloud-based customer support platform that integrates traditional support channels such as phone and email with social channels like Twitter and Facebook. The company claims to have clients in over 40 countries. Continue Reading >>

Freshdesk Raises $5M To Expand Online Help Desk Tool

Online help desk tool Freshdesk announced today it has raised $5 million in funding from Tiger Global Management and existing investor Accel Partners. Started in 2010, the SaaS customer support tool launched to the public in June 2011, and raised $1 million in funding from Accel Partners in October 2011. They have tripled their customer base in the last quarter, though didn’t comment on how many customers they have to date.

Freshdesk founder Girish Mathrubootham said this is Tiger Global’s first investment in the SaaS space, as they have typically focused on investments in ecommerce companies including Warby Parker and One King’s Lane. “Obviously they see a lot of value in what we are doing in terms of social customer support,” he said in an interview. “Most of these ecommerce companies realize the importance of not just traditional customer support through email or phone, but also the capability to do social customer support. What we are doing is combining the aspects of a traditional support solution and the social aspects.”

Freshdesk Announces Integration with Popular Bug Tracking Tool, JIRA 5; Marries Customer Support and Engineering

Freshdesk, the cloud-based social help desk software provider, has announced an integration with the latest version of Atlassian’s popular bug and issue tracking tool, JIRA 5.

The new integration brings the software engineering team even closer to the end customer. Support agents can directly link bugs reported by customers to existing issues in JIRA, or even create a new issue from within Freshdesk. Through this integration, Freshdesk automatically maps status updates and bug-related data in JIRA to the corresponding tickets raised by customers in the help desk.

“JIRA helps software development teams provide their end-users with high-quality software, while Freshdesk allows them to continue the relationship through exceptional customer support,” says Girish Mathrubootham, CEO of Freshdesk. “With the new integration, engineering teams will be able to identify the bugs that most customers want to be fixed first, and prioritize their projects and tasks accordingly.” Continue Reading >>

Accel-Backed Freshdesk Wants To Take On Zendesk With Customer Support Platform

Freshdesk, which has raised $1 million in funding from Accel Partners, is debuting a new version of its cloud-based customer support platform today. Similar to the leader in the space, Zendesk, the India-based startup aims to bring customer service to the cloud by offering a simple, online help desk and support ticketing application.

With the new version of Freshdesk, customer service agents can support, update and assign projects directly from an email client, without needing to log in or use a mobile app. Agents simply email or forward a request to a Freshdesk unique email address and the request will be added to Freshdesk’s interface. Freshdesk automatically processes the command, makes the update, and sends the rest of the email to the appropriate customer. Agents can also directly send an email to a specific address, automatically converting the ticket to a knowledge base article that can be accessed by any agent. Continue Reading >>

Freshdesk Takes Customer Support Social, Raises $1 Million from Accel Partners

SaaS-based, social customer support startup Freshdesk today announced that it has secured US $1 Million in funding from global venture capital firm Accel Partners. The investment will be used to expand the product team and step up marketing and business development efforts.

“The future of customer support is on the cloud, and a good portion of it will happen on the company’s Facebook and Twitter pages. Freshdesk also places particular emphasis on ease of use and intuitiveness, with the view that any company should be able to get it up and running in a few minutes.” says Girish Mathrubootham, CEO of Freshdesk.

Freshdesk was founded in 2010 by former Zoho executives, Girish Mathrubootham and Shanmugam Krishnasamy. In March this year, a chance listing on AngelList drew enormous investor interest, which led to the Series A funding. As part of the investment, Shekhar Kirani from Accel Partners will now be joining Freshdesk’s board of directors. The Series A Funding comes just as Freshdesk released a host of new features, including Facebook and Twitter integration, enabling businesses to take complete control of their customer service over social media. Continue Reading >>

The 10 Hot Indian Startups You Need To Watch

For the past 14 years, India's economy has been a freight train moving at full speed. Since 1997 the country has averaged 7% GDP growth, lifted millions out of poverty and provided a young generation of entrepreneurs with the chance to do something great.

We found some of the brightest startups the world's second-largest country has to offer. From simplified banking that helps rural communities access money to a platform that streamlines agricultural supply chains, Indian entrepreneurs are taking advantage of their country's significant growth. Continue Reading >>

The Cloud Of Opportunities

Circa 2010. Chennai-based Girish Mathrubootham was getting restless in his job as a marketing executive in Zoho Corp. The Internet was evolving rapidly. He was fidgeting around for the right business on the Internet, but that Eureka moment was evading him. Until, he was convinced that he could quit to make a living out of the ‘cloud’. Mathrubootham’s moment arrived when he had an epiphany in a business meeting in Chennai in early 2011. That led to the creation of Freshdesk, a firm that enables sales teams and brand managers to reach out to customers who voice their problems against a firm on social media such as Facebook. “With social networks becoming a powerful tool to reach out to customers, it was only natural that even help desks moved to the cloud,” says Mathrubootham.

As opposed to the Internet, with which it is often mistaken, cloud computing (or grid computing) refers to the capability of delivering computing as a service — using an inter-connected grid of computers — to a host of users who pay for the service as per use. What is offered could be basic computing or storage, software or data. Continue Reading >>

Freshdesk and Reach 360 sparkle at Microsoft's BizSpark Startup Challenge

Bangalore, June 24, 2011: Microsoft India, today announced the winners of the BizSpark Startup Challenge 2011. At the event that witnessed top 15 startups battling it out for the coveted prize, Freshdesk and Reach 360 emerged winners of the challenge. The two winners were rewarded with a grant of USD 40,000 and the runner-up teams; Zevenseas and Live Inbox got a grant of USD 10,000 each.

Microsoft BizSpark Challenge is a unique contest for start-ups in the field of product software to showcase their innovative business plans, receive feedback, and mentorship from top investors and Microsoft. The challenge was open to startups that currently have product/IP and are leveraging Microsoft technologies. The participants were assessed on three key parameters; innovation, market potential of the business and a compelling story behind the idea. The challenge was launched in April 2011 and within six weeks of the launch, over 400 product start-ups enrolled for the challenge and 15 startups were shortlisted for the finals. Continue Reading >>

The 1M/1M Incubation Radar: Freshdesk, Chennai, India

A finalist in the Microsoft BizSpark India Startup Challenge, Freshdesk is a SaaS company that provides small and medium businesses with on-demand customer support software that offers multi-channel social support. Freshdesk introduces itself as a kind of Salesforce.com for customer support so to speak. Small- and medium-business owners can set up online customer support platforms that combine the backend help desk system used by agents (ticketing, knowledge management) with an online customer portal (self service, forums, idea management, voting, etc) on the front end.

Freshdesk was founded in 2010 by CEO, Girish Mathrubootham and CTO, Shan Krishnasamy. Before starting Freshdesk, Mathrubootham worked as a vice-president of product management and Krishnasamy as a technical architect for the Manage Engine division of Zoho Corporation. Mathrubootham successfully built products such as the Manage Engine Service Desk Plus, an ITIL service desk software used for internal IT support. It generated millions of dollars in revenues in 2010. Mathrubootham, with help from Krishnasamy, also built Op Manager, a network monitoring software that also generated several million dollars in revenues in 2010. Krishnasamy wrote the 1.0 version of the Manage Engine Netflow Analyzer, which is now a multi-million dollar product. Continue Reading >>