Fifteen years after starting Freshworks in a small office in Chennai, Girish Mathrubootham will step down as executive chairman and board chair of the Nasdaq listed software company on December 1, 2025.
The move marks the last step in a transition that began in May 2024, when he handed over the role of CEO to Dennis Woodside.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Freshworks confirmed that Mathrubootham’s exit was not linked to any disagreements on operations or governance. Roxanne Austin, who has been the lead independent director since 2021 and also serves on the boards of CrowdStrike and Verizon, will take over as chairperson. With this reshuffle, the board size will reduce to nine members.
Mathrubootham, often called “G,” founded Freshworks in 2010 and guided it through investments from Accel, Sequoia and Tiger Global before taking the company public on Nasdaq in 2021 with a valuation of 10 billion dollars. This milestone made Freshworks the first Indian SaaS company to be listed in the United States. Mathrubootham currently owns a 4.28 percent stake in the company after selling part of his shares in late 2024.
In a LinkedIn post, Mathrubootham described the decision as “not easy” but the “right one” for this stage of his journey.
“What began in that garage grew into something much bigger — a company that serves thousands of customers around the world, went public on Nasdaq, and proved that India can build global product companies,” he wrote.
He will now focus on Together Fund, the venture capital firm he co founded with Manav Garg in 2021. The fund raised 85 million dollars in its first round and aimed for 150 million dollars in its second round. It invests in early stage startups working on artificial intelligence applications and infrastructure. Mathrubootham is also active as an advisor to many companies and is a co founder of SaaSBoomi, a community for software entrepreneurs.
“I believe the world is at the beginning of a new era, and India has the talent and ambition to become a true Product Nation. That is the dream I want to dedicate my energy to,” he added.
Under Woodside, Freshworks has been driving growth with artificial intelligence. Its Freddy AI line recently crossed 20 million dollars in annual recurring revenue, pushing the company to raise its guidance for the year. Revenue grew to 204.7 million dollars in the June quarter, up from 174 million dollars a year earlier, while operating losses fell by 80 percent to 9 million dollars.
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