Freshworks on Wednesday announced that it has acquired Indo-American startup AnswerIQ Inc for undisclosed amount.
This is the second acquisition in less than a year for the Chennai based SaaS startup, which also happens to be one of the proud Indian unicorn companies.
Following the latest acquisition, Freshworks’ total acquisition tally has now reached to 12, making it one of the most aggressive Indian startups when it comes to pursuing growth through acquisition route.
AnswerIQ leverages the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to enable conversational AI to offer self-service intelligent customer service experience. The startup had last raised funds in 2017, securing $5 Mn in series A round from VC firm Madrona Venture Group.
AnswerIQ’s founder and CEO Pradeep Rathinam will be joining Freshworks as chief customer officer as soon as all the formalities are duly completed. This fact may very well raise the doubt that this may be an acquhire and not an acquisition deal. But there is still no confirmation about the same.
In his new role, Pradeep will supervise the company’s global customer support and ensure that customer satisfaction remains optimally high.
Freshworks said that AnswerIQ perfectly complements its own native AI engine technology Freddy. The company is also reportedly planning to integrate these two brands, with Girish Mathrubootham suggesting Techcrunch that the combined brand may be known as FreshIQ.
Commenting on the acquisition, Freshworks’ CEO & Founder Girish Mathrubootham said that the seamless integration of AnswerIQ’s AI technology will enhance company’s overall AI/ML capabilities and add significant value to its customer satisfaction.
With solid cash reserves and following the recent closing of $150 Mn funding round, the company can indeed afford to splurge some more big bucks for acquiring promising startups. The Chennai based SaaS company is currently valued at nearly $3.5 Bn.
