US software firm Freshworks eyes acquisitions with $800 million cash pile, AI in focus

By Praveen Paramasivam and Sai Ishwarbharath B CHENNAI, Dec 17 (Reuters) - U.S. software company Freshworks (FRSH.O) is exploring acquisitions, including AI firms, backed by more than $800 million in cash, as it aims to boost revenue in the coming years, CEO Dennis Woodside told Reuters on Tuesday. The acquisition push comes as artificial intelligence adoption fuels dealmaking across the technology sector. Global M&A volumes rose 39% to $4.3 trillion in 2025, according to J.P. Morgan, despite uncertainty caused by U.S. tariffs. Woodside said the company has been evaluating targets in AI and employee experience software, and has held discussions with potential partners in Israel, Europe, the United States and India. “I probably spoke with 50 companies in the last six months,” he said. Freshworks, founded in the coastal Indian city of Chennai, offers cloud-based software, including Freshdesk for customer service and Freshservice for IT support, which incorporate AI capabilities. It competes with companies such as Salesforce (CRM.N) and ServiceNow (NOW.N) . Stating all of Freshworks’ engineering teams are already in India, home to 80% of its 4,500 workforce, the executive said Freshworks would “love” to find its next acquisition target in India for easier integration. The company, which forecasts double-digit percentage revenue growth for the next three years, on Monday disclosed a deal to acquire incident management platform FireHydrant, after buying IT management software Device42 for $230 million last year. San Mateo, California-based Freshworks said it has cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $813.2 million, giving it capital for “meaningfully larger deals”. However, it did not specify target deal sizes. Freshworks’ plans come as AI-native startups disrupt existing software as a service (SaaS) players with more personalised tools. According to data from Venture Intelligence, funding for Indian SaaS startups slightly improved to $1.8 billion in 2024, up from $1.3 billion the prior year. However, this pales in comparison to $4.4 billion raised in 2022. Woodside said it will continue to hire in India, especially in engineering, product development, and design roles and add engineers to its future acquisitions. He did not disclose a figure.