Indian software company Freshworks Inc said it would expand its operations into the African market to cash in on growing IT spend in the continent
The Chennai, India-based company said in a statement that it would make investments to improve its marketing, sales and partnership operations in Africa. Freshworks added local resellers Beaupun and GoTech to its partner programme last year.
The company has made at least nine acquisitions over the last three years ranging from chatbots to digital marketing tools to beef up its portfolio of cloud-based enterprise software products.
Backed by investors such as Alphabet's venture capital arm, CapitalG, Sequoia, Tiger Global and Accel, Freshworks has raised nearly US$150mn after six rounds of funding according to Crunchbase.
“Africa is a very strategic market for Freshworks. The opening of Africa is an important milestone for us, as it demonstrates our expanding commitment to the region and strengthens our position as a leading software provider. The combination of our industry-leading solutions along with a growing customer base in the region will augment our local operations. Our aim is to build rich, meaningful engagement with enterprises of all sizes that are looking for new cutting-edge solutions to power their customer and employee experiences," said Arihant Jain, director, Middle East & Africa, Freshworks.
International Data Corporation, an IT sector focused market research firm, estimates that overall African IT spending will be US$33.4bn in 2018, of which US$1.9bn will be from Nigeria.
