Economy
Freshworks Secures $100m Investment to Propel Growth

By Dipo Olowookere
Global leader in customer engagement software, Freshworks, has secured $100 million in financing and has hired former AppDynamics Vice President of Finance & Treasury Suresh Seshadri as its chief financial officer.
The latest round of funding is co-led by Accel and Sequoia, with participation from CapitalG, bringing Freshworks’ total amount of capital raised to $250 million.
The cash infusion will be used to further expand Freshworks’ worldwide expansion as well as continued investment in its integrated SaaS platform.
Freshworks provides organizations of all sizes with SaaS solutions that make it easy for customer support, sales and marketing professionals to communicate effectively with customers for better service and collaborate with team members to resolve customer issues.
To date, over 150,000 organizations worldwide use Freshworks, including NHS, Honda, Rightmove, Hugo Boss, Citizens Advice, Toshiba and Cisco. The company is headquartered in San Bruno, Calif., and has offices in India, the United Kingdom, Germany and Australia.
“When we started Freshworks in 2010, we were a single-product company with a goal of offering better, easier-to-use customer service software than what was in the market.
“We’ve since scaled our company to $100 million in annual recurring revenue and built a full SaaS platform where all of our products – such as Freshsales, Freshdesk, and Freshservice – work together seamlessly, without requiring additional integration resources or consultants to make the software simply work,” said Girish Mathrubootham, the co-founder and CEO of Freshworks.
“With the addition of Suresh leading our financial management and strategy toward a path of free cash flow break-even and our latest – and likely last – private funding round in place, we believe we have a unique opportunity to attract customers from around the globe who have been let down by legacy solutions.”
“The business software landscape today is teeming with bloated, inflexible and expensive solutions,” said Sameer Gandhi, a partner at Accel.
“Freshworks has built the only customer engagement platform on the market that elegantly meets the needs of a business of any size with software that is modern, intuitive and affordable. We’re confident that the Freshworks approach is the way forward for businesses seeking a better approach.”
“Sequoia first backed Freshworks in 2016 and didn’t hesitate for a moment to double down on the investment,” said Mohit Bhatnagar, the managing director of Sequoia Capital India Advisors. “Girish and his team have worked relentlessly to build Freshworks into a leading SaaS company from India – one that is truly global with customers across 126 countries. The investment reinforces the Sequoia principle of being a long-term business partner to founders and supporting them at every stage of their company’s growth.”
Seshadri, the company’s new CFO, previously helped prepare AppDynamics for its IPO before it was acquired by Cisco in 2017. “Freshworks has been riding an incredible wave of growth,” he said. “Coming on board to work with Girish and the rest of the executive team is an incredible opportunity and I am confident that we are well-positioned to reach the next phase of Freshworks’ expansion.”
Since its last funding round, Freshworks has made several technology acquisitions to further bolster its product offerings. Several of these technologies were featured in its recently announced cloud bundle, Freshworks 360, that brings together sales, marketing and support applications to provide users with a full, easy-to-use customer engagement experience.
Economy
NNPC Denies Selling Substandard Petrol at Retail Stations

By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has refuted claims that it sells substandard premium motor spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, at its retail stations, especially in Lagos.
The state-owned oil company was reacting to a viral video, which said petrol bought at NNPC retail stations burns faster.
Reacting to this in a statement on Saturday, the Chief Corporate Communications Officer of the NNPC, Mr Olufemi Soneye, said the said fuel being talked about in the video may have been the product bought from a rival refinery in the country, Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
“It is important to emphasize that a significant percentage of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) sold at NNPC retail stations in Lagos—where this deceptive video was created—is sourced from the Dangote Refinery, a strategic partner in promoting local production and energy security. Dangote Refinery adheres to strict industry standards, guaranteeing the quality of petroleum products supplied to our consumers,” a part of the statement said.
It, therefore, described the allegations in the viral video as “false and misleading,” adding that it is also “baseless and entirely unfounded” as it originated “from unverified and amateur research that lacks credibility, accuracy, and professional oversight.”
“NNPC reaffirms that its fuel is carefully formulated with one of the best compositions, ensuring optimal efficiency, durability, and environmental sustainability for consumers,” the company stated.
However, it warned that, “Henceforth, NNPC will take firm legal action against individuals or groups who intentionally spread falsehoods about our brand and operations. Those engaged in such malicious activities will be held fully accountable under the law.”
It lamented that the video was done by “economic saboteurs to misinform the public and tarnish NNPC’s reputation,” warning that it “will not tolerate deliberate misinformation designed to undermine our operations and mislead Nigerians.”
NNPC urged “the public to disregard such fabricated content and rely on verified sources for accurate information,” noting that it “remains steadfast in its mission to ensure fuel availability, affordability, and quality for all Nigerians while maintaining global industry standards.”
Economy
Four Stocks Show Investors Love at NASD Valentine’s Day Trading

By Adedapo Adesanya
Four price gainers lifted the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 0.54 per cent on Friday, February 14.
Okitipupa Plc improved its share price by N11.29 to close at N124.18 per unit versus N112.89 per unit, Mixta Real Estate Plc appreciated by 34 Kobo to finish at N3.76 per share versus the preceding day’s N3.42 per share, Afriland Properties Plc went up by 62 Kobo to settle at N21.03 per unit compared with N20.41 per unit, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc jumped by 5 Kobo to trade at N39.95 per share, in contrast to the preceding day’s N39.90 per share.
At the close of business, the market capitalization rose by N9.91 billion to N1.828 trillion from N1.818 trillion and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) increased by 17.49 points to 3,227.53 points from the 3,210.04 points recorded on Thursday.
During yesterday’s session, the volume of securities transacted by investors jumped by 1,001.3 per cent to 5.1 million units from the 465,820 units transacted in the previous trading day.
Also, the value of transactions surged by 1,025.4 per cent to N108.5 million from N9.6 million, while the number of deals went south by 10 per cent to nine deals from 10 deals recorded on Thursday.
Impresit Bakolori Plc finished the day as the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 519.5 million units worth N504.3 million, trailed by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 7.4 million units valued at N293.2 million, and Geo-Fluids Plc with 9.3 million units sold for N44.8 million.
Similarly, Impresit Bakolori Plc ended the session as the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 519.5 million units worth N504.3 million, followed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with 69.6 million units sold for N23.6 million, and Geo-Fluids Plc with 10.7 million units valued at N51.2 million.
Economy
Naira Stable at Official Market, NAFEM, Appreciates at Black Market

By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira was relatively stable against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Friday, February 14, though it shed 10 Kobo or 0.01 per cent to sell at at N1,510.10/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N1,510.00/$1.
However, it depreciated against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the trading day by N7.32 to quote at N1,879.42/£1 versus the N1,872.42/£1 it was sold at the previous session and lost N6.27 against the Euro to settle at N1,566.23/€1, in contrast to Thursday’s closing rate of N1,559.96/€1.
At the parallel market, the Nigerian Naira improved its value against the US Dollar yesterday by N5 to finish at N1565/$1 compared with the preceding session’s value of N1,570/$1.
As for the cryptocurrency market, it was positive on Friday after investors overlooked recent data that frustrated the landscape.
This week, the US data released showed increment in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). This shows the US Federal Reserve will likely wait till June before making changes to the current interest rate levels.
Over the last two weeks, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also acknowledged applications for Litecoin and Solana exchange traded funds (ETFs) — indicating that the SEC’s leadership under the Donald Trump administration has changed its tact to crypto-related listings.
Ethereum (ETH) expanded its value by 5.4 per cent to sell at $3,394.79, Solana (SOL) recorded a 4.4 per cent appreciation to end at $260.86, Cardano (ADA) jumped by 2.9 per cent to trade at $1.00, and Litecoin (LTC) saw a 2.6 per cent surge to quote at $116.78.
In addition, Bitcoin (BTC) appreciated by 2.1 per cent to settle at $1o4,978.31, Ripple (XRP) rose 0.7 per cent to $3.16, Dogecoin (DOGE) increased by 0.6 per cent to finish at $0.3572, and Binance Coin (BNB) gained 1.6 per cent to sell for $710.31, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.
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