Freshworks acquires AI customer service firm AnsweriQ

Indian startup Freshworks, which provides a suite of software-as-a-service products for support and marketing professionals, has acquired machine learning firm AnsweriQ to scale its AI customer service offerings.

Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

Former AnsweriQ CEO and Freshworks’ new chief customer officer, Pradeep Rathinam / Photo credit: Freshworks

Founded in 2017, US-based AnsweriQ is an AI-backed customer support company that uses algorithms to read and understand interactions from past tickets between the customer support agent and the customer.

This allows businesses to automatically classify and respond to usual issues and provide agents with recommended responses. Some of its current clients include 2K Games, Freshly, and SeatGeek.

Freshworks said it will incorporate AnsweriQ’s technology in its chatbot, Freddy, to enhance its AI capabilities. With the integration, Freddy will be able to anticipate customer needs, make recommendations for agents based on conversations, and perform tasks such as refunds and cancellations with no manual input required.

As part of the deal, AnsweriQ CEO Pradeep Rathinam joins Freshworks as chief customer officer. In his new role, Rathinam will oversee the company’s global customer support, onboarding, and customer success organizations.

AnsweriQ is Freshworks’ second acquisition in less than a year, following a nearly 60% year-on-year growth in billings, the company said. In May 2019, it acquired customer success service Natero, an AI and machine learning company that helps businesses manage their clients.

Freshworks, which is based in California, also recently raised US$150 million in a series H funding round from Sequoia Capital, CapitalG, and Accel at a US$3.5 billion valuation. The round pushed the company’s total funding to almost US$400 million, according to Crunchbase.

Founded in 2010, Freshworks now has more than 2,700 employees spread across 13 offices around the world.