US prosecutors have moved to drop the two federal criminal cases against Donald Trump involving his efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat and his handling of classified documents, citing his impending return to the presidency. or signup to continue reading The steps on Tuesday by prosecutors working with Special Counsel Jack Smith in the two cases represent a big legal victory for the Republican president-elect as he prepares to take office on January 20. Prosecutors working with Special Counsel Jack Smith said a longstanding US Justice Department policy holding that sitting presidents should not face criminal prosecution requires the case involving the 2020 election to be dismissed before Trump returns to the White Ho "This outcome is not based on the merits or strength of the case against the defendant," prosecutors wrote in a court filing in Washington. Trump spokesman Steven Cheung called the move "a major victory for the rule of law". Smith's office also moved to end its attempt to revive the case accusing Trump of illegally retaining classified documents when he left office in 2021 after his first term as president. But the prosecutors signalled they will still ask a federal appeals court to bring back the case against two Trump associates who had been accused of obstructing that investigation. The move represents a remarkable shift from the special prosecutor who obtained indictments against Trump in two separate cases accusing him of crimes that threatened US election integrity and national security. Prosecutors acknowledged that the election of a president who faced ongoing criminal cases created an unprecedented predicament for the Justice Department. It shows how Trump's election victory over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris was not just a political triumph, but also a legal one. Trump pleaded not guilty in August 2023 to four federal charges accusing him of conspiring to obstruct the collection and certification of votes following his 2020 loss to Democrat Joe Biden. Trump, who as president will again oversee the Justice Department, was expected to order an end to the federal 2020 election case and to Smith's appeal in the documents case. The Justice Department policy, dating back to the 1970s, holds that a criminal prosecution of a sitting president would violate the US Constitution by undermining the ability of the country's chief executive to function. Courts will still have to approve both requests from prosecutors. Florida-based Judge Aileen Cannon, who Trump appointed to the federal bench, dismissed the classified documents case in July, ruling that Smith was improperly appointed to his role as special counsel. DAILY Today's top stories curated by our news team. WEEKDAYS Grab a quick bite of today's latest news from around the region and the nation. WEEKLY The latest news, results & expert analysis. WEEKDAYS Catch up on the news of the day and unwind with great reading for your evening. WEEKLY Get the editor's insights: what's happening & why it matters. WEEKLY Love footy? We've got all the action covered. WEEKLY Every Saturday and Tuesday, explore destinations deals, tips & travel writing to transport you around the globe. WEEKLY Going out or staying in? Find out what's on. WEEKDAYS Sharp. Close to the ground. Digging deep. Your weekday morning newsletter on national affairs, politics and more. TWICE WEEKLY Your essential national news digest: all the big issues on Wednesday and great reading every Saturday. WEEKLY Get news, reviews and expert insights every Thursday from CarExpert, ACM's exclusive motoring partner. TWICE WEEKLY Get real, Australia! Let the ACM network's editors and journalists bring you news and views from all over. AS IT HAPPENS Be the first to know when news breaks. DAILY Your digital replica of Today's Paper. Ready to read from 5am! DAILY Test your skills with interactive crosswords, sudoku & trivia. Fresh daily! Advertisement AdvertisementMississippi blows opportunity at making the College Football Playoff with Florida loss
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New York can be a magical place for museumgoers. It also can be overwhelming and overcrowded at times, especially at the biggest, most famous museums. Luckily, the city has scores of great museums to choose from: Everything from small and quirky, to elegant gems housed in historic mansions, to preserved Lower East Side tenement apartments and hands-on experiences that might surprise even longtime New Yorkers. “Going to the Museum of Modern Art or the Metropolitan Museum of Art or the American Museum of Natural History is fantastic. But they can be like a big super-sized coffee drink, while we’re more like a cup of espresso,” says Alex Kalman, director of two of the city’s tiniest museums, Mmuseumm1 and Mmuseumm2. One is built into an old elevator shaft in a downtown alleyway. At other small museums you’ll find a cozy, Viennese-style coffee shop; kosher Jewish comfort food; and edgy gift shops. You could view the chair that George Washington sat in before giving his inaugural address to Congress. Or you might make seltzer or solve math puzzles. Here’s some of what’s happening at NYC’s “other” museums: 1048 5th Ave. This museum, housed in a 1914 Gilded Age mansion that was once home to society doyenne Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt III, focuses on art and design from Austria and Germany. Its Cafe Sabarsky is a destination of its own, with 1912 upholstery, period decor, and a grand piano in the corner used for cabaret, chamber and classical music performances. On view now is “Egon Schiele: Living Landscapes” and “Austrian Masterworks from the Neue Galerie.” 227 W 27th St. Tucked inside the Fashion Institute of Technology, behind the big sculpture in front, is the city’s only museum solely devoted to fashion. And it’s free. Opening in February is “Fashioning Wonder: A Cabinet of Curiosities,” exploring connections between cabinets of curiosities and fashion. 1109 5th Ave. at 92nd St. On view now are “Illit Azouley: Mere Things,” the first solo exhibit in a U.S. museum dedicated to the Berlin-based artist, and “Engaging with History: Works from the Collection.” Other displays include the “Tel Dan Stele,” a 9th century BCE stone monument fragment containing the earliest mention of the royal House of David outside of the Bible. The gift shop features an impressive array of specialty gifts, including works by artist Oded Halahmy. There’s a cafe with updated takes on traditional bagels, blintzes, herring and house-cured salmon. 2 East 91st St. One of the city’s two Smithsonian museums, the Cooper Hewitt focuses on innovative design. Its gift shop rivals MoMA’s, and there’s a private garden and small restaurant. The museum is housed in the former home of industrial magnate Andrew Carnegie. Completed in 1902, the mansion was the first in the U.S. to have a structural steel frame, and one of the first in the city to have a passenger elevator and central heating. It is now LEED-certified and features other cutting-edge technologies. A major exhibit on now, “Making Home: Smithsonian Design Triennial,” explores design’s role in shaping concepts of home, physically and emotionally. It sprawls over the entire mansion and will be on view through Aug. 10. 1 Bowling Green The other Smithsonian in town, it’s at the lower end of Manhattan inside the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Customs House, now a city landmark. Admission is free, and current exhibitions include “Jeffrey Veregge: Of Gods and Heroes,” “Native New York” and “Infinity of Nations.” The gift shop features authentic Native American art, crafts, apparel and jewelry from a wide representation of groups, in addition to books by and about Native Americans. 103 Orchard St. With something for all ages, the Tenement Museum is housed in two preserved tenement buildings, one from 1863 and the other from 1888. Each apartment is a kind of time capsule, telling the story of a different immigrant or migrant family who lived there. The museum also offers walking tours of the neighborhood. “What is most unique about the Tenement Museum is that it shines the spotlight on ‘ordinary people’ — working-class families who never imagined they’d one day be the subject of a museum,” says Tenement Museum President Annie Polland. 170 Central Park West A great way to learn more about the city’s history, including the fact that Washington was inaugurated here. A permanent gallery on the fourth floor features a detailed recreation of the White House Oval Office in Washington, D.C., where presidents have worked since 1909. The Meet the Presidents Gallery traces, through artwork and objects, the evolution of the presidency and executive branch. Also on view is the chair from Washington’s inauguration at Federal Hall, on Wall Street, the only presidential inauguration held in New York City. Other current exhibits include “Pets and the City,” “Fred W. McDarrah: Pride and Protest.” There’s a permanent “Gallery of Tiffany Lamps.” 225 Fifth Ave. A hands-on museum with all kinds of math-oriented puzzles and thought-inspiring curiosities, like a tricycle with square wheels that rides smoothly on a zigzagged surface. In an exhibit called “Human Tree,” visitors can make successively smaller images of themselves that combine to make a “fractal tree” that sways in response to their movements. 474 Hemlock St, Brooklyn An interactive museum and factory tour run in partnership with the city’s oldest seltzer works, a family business now in its fourth generation. The museum, inside Brooklyn Seltzer Boys’ active factory, is “dedicated to preserving and promoting the effervescent history of seltzer water,” and celebrates “the manufacturing of seltzer, the science of seltzer, and seltzer as a cultural force in New York City and the world beyond.” Not to mention, guests can spritz each other with seltzer. Get local news delivered to your inbox!
IRVING, Texas , Nov. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- RumbleOn, Inc. (NASDAQ: RMBL) (the "Company" or "RumbleOn") announced today that it has commenced a $10.0 million fully backstopped registered equity rights offering (the "Rights Offering"), pursuant to which the Company is expected to receive aggregate gross proceeds of $10.0 million , less expenses related to the Rights Offering. The Company intends to use the proceeds from the Rights Offering for general corporate purposes which may include repayment of the Company's convertible senior 6.75% promissory notes due January 1, 2025 . The proceeds raised will also satisfy, in part, the additional capital financing obligations of the Company pursuant to a recent amendment to the Company's credit agreement with Oaktree. The Company is distributing at no charge to the holders of (i) its Class A common stock, par value $0.001 per share (the "Class A common stock"), and (ii) Class B common stock, par value $0.001 per share (the "Class B common stock" and, together with the Class A common stock, the "common stock"), in each case as of the close of business on November 25, 2024 (the "Record Date"), non-transferable subscription rights (the "Subscription Rights") to purchase up to 2,392,344 shares of Class B common stock at price of $4.18 per share (the "Subscription Price"). The aggregate subscription value of all shares of Class B common stock available for purchase in the Rights Offering is $10.0 million . Each holder of common stock as of the Record Date (each, an "Eligible Stockholder") will receive one Subscription Right for each share of the common stock owned as of the Record Date. Each Subscription Right entitles the holder to purchase 0.0677 shares of Class B common stock. The Company will not issue any fractional shares of Class B common stock in the Rights Offering. Instead, the Company will round down the aggregate number of shares of Class B common stock the Eligible Stockholders are entitled to receive to the nearest whole number. Accordingly, as each Subscription Right represents the right to purchase 0.0677 shares of Class B common stock, an Eligible Stockholder must hold at least 15 shares of Class A common stock or Class B common stock to receive sufficient Subscription Rights to purchase at least one share of Class B common stock in the Rights Offering. Eligible Stockholders will not be entitled to exercise an over-subscription privilege to purchase additional shares of Class B common stock that may remain unsubscribed as a result of any unexercised Subscription Rights. The Subscription Rights will expire and will have no value if they are not exercised prior to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time , on the expiration time for the Rights Offering (the "Expiration Time"), which is currently expected to be 5:00 p.m. Eastern time on December 12, 2024 , unless the Company, in its sole discretion, extends the period for exercising the Subscription Rights. Subject to the terms and conditions of the Support and Standby Purchase Agreement (defined below), the Company reserves the right to cancel, terminate, amend, or extend the Rights Offering at any time prior to the Expiration Time. On November 26 , 2024, the Company entered into a support and standby purchase agreement (the "Support and Standby Purchase Agreement") with Stone House Capital Management, LLC, which is a holder of Class B common stock and is managed by Mark Cohen , a member of the board of directors of the Company (together with its affiliates, the "Standby Purchaser"), and Mark Tkach and William Coulter , each of whom is a holder of the Class B common stock and a member of the board of directors of the Company (collectively, the "Support Purchasers" and, together with the Standby Purchaser, the "Investors"). The Support and Standby Purchase Agreement provides, among other things, that (i) the Standby Purchaser will purchase from the Company in a private placement any shares of Class B common stock included in the Rights Offering that are not subscribed for and purchased by Eligible Stockholders (collectively, the "Backstop Securities") for the same per share Subscription Price payable by the Eligible Stockholders electing to exercise their Subscription Rights in the Rights Offering; and (ii) each Support Purchaser will exercise all of his respective Subscription Rights in full prior to the Expiration Time. Other Important Information The Subscription Rights will not be listed for trading on any stock exchange or market. Therefore, there will be no public market for the Subscription Rights. However, the shares of Class B common stock issued upon the exercise of the Subscription Rights will remain listed on The Nasdaq Capital Market of the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC under the symbol "RMBL." The Company expects that Broadridge Corporate Issuer Solutions, LLC, the subscription and information agent for the Rights Offering, will distribute subscription documents for the Rights Offering to Eligible Stockholders beginning on or about November 26, 2024 . Holders of shares of common stock held in "street name" through a brokerage account, bank or other nominee should contact their broker, bank or other nominee for details regarding participation in the Rights Offering. For any questions or further information about the Rights Offering, please contact the information agent, at (888) 789-8409 (Toll-Free), or via email at shareholder@broadridge.com . Neither the Company nor its board of directors has made or will make any recommendation to holders regarding participation in the Rights Offering. Holders should make an independent investment decision about whether to participate in the Rights Offering based on their own assessment of the Company's business and the Rights Offering. The offering of the Class B common stock pursuant to the Rights Offering is being made pursuant to the Company's existing effective shelf registration statement on Form S-3 (Reg. No. 333-281862) on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") and a prospectus supplement (and the accompanying base prospectus) filed with the SEC on the date hereof. The information in this press release is not complete and is subject to change. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any offer, solicitation or sale of the securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful under the securities laws of such state or jurisdiction. The Rights Offering will be made only by means of the prospectus supplement (and the accompanying base prospectus) filed with the SEC on the date hereof. About RumbleOn RumbleOn, Inc. (NASDAQ: RMBL), operates through two operating segments: our Powersports dealership group and Wholesale Express, LLC, an asset-light transportation services provider focused on the automotive industry. Our Powersports group is the largest powersports retail group in the United States (as measured by reported revenue, major unit sales and dealership locations), offering over 500 powersports franchises representing 50 different brands of products. Our Powersports group sells a wide selection of new and pre-owned products, including parts, apparel, accessories, finance & insurance products and services, and aftermarket products. We are the largest purchaser of pre-owned powersports vehicles in the United States and utilize RideNow's Cash Offer to acquire vehicles directly from consumers. For more information on RumbleOn, please visit rumbleon.com . Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements The Company's press release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those regarding the Company's plans to launch a Rights Offering, the anticipated final terms, timing and completion of the proposed Rights Offering, and the use of proceeds from the proposed Rights Offering. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by words such as "anticipates," "believes," "continues," "could," "estimates," "expects," "intends," "hopes," "may," "plan," "possible," "potential," "predicts," "projects," "should," "targets," "would" and similar expressions, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Such statements are subject to numerous important factors, risks and uncertainties that may cause actual events or results to differ materially from current expectations and beliefs, including, but not limited to, risks and uncertainties related to: whether the proposed transactions will be completed in a timely manner, or at all; the risk that all of the closing conditions for the proposed Rights Offering are not satisfied; the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstance that could cause the Company not to proceed with the Rights Offering; the determination of the final terms of the proposed Rights Offering; the satisfaction of customary closing conditions related to the proposed Rights Offering; risks related to the diversion of management's attention from RumbleOn's ongoing business operations; the impact of general economic, industry or political conditions in the United States or internationally, as well as the other risk factors set forth under the caption "Risk Factors" in the registration statement, as amended, and in RumbleOn's Annual Report for the year ended December 31, 2023 and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 30, 2024 , June 30, 2024 and September 30, 2024 and in any other subsequent filings made with the SEC by RumbleOn. There can be no assurance that RumbleOn will be able to complete the proposed Rights Offering on the anticipated terms, or at all. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date hereof, and RumbleOn specifically disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rumbleon-announces-commencement-of-10-0-million-fully-backstopped-registered-rights-offering-302316964.html SOURCE RumbleOn4 easy, comforting bean dishes for fall
6 Pope: Didn’t have much to do other than the goals, where he was let down by those in front. 6 Livramento: Tried to drive forward at every opportunity, especially in the first half. 6 Schar: Solid enough. Didn’t have an awful lot to do. 4 Kelly : Lost Soucek for West Ham’s crucial early opener. Good tackle on Summerville in second half but booked for foul on Bowen. Failed to take big chance in absence of Burn. 7 Hall: Newcastle’s best player again. Lively and full of running and positive intent. Went close on a couple of occasions. 5 Longstaff: Never really settled and got a grip of the game. Replaced on the hour. 5 Willock: Worked hard and went close with one chance but midfield a bit chaotic at times .Was hurt in accidental clash with his own teammate Longstaff and replaced at the break. 6 Bruno : Brilliant first half pass to create chance for Isak. Robbed of possession in build-up to decisive second goal. 5 Gordon: Missed glorious first half chance when he was denied by Fabianski and failed to make the most of several promising openings. 5 Joelinton: Couldn’t get into the game. 6 Isak: Promising start with disallowed goal and a threat in the first half but starved of service after the break. Substitutes: 5 Barnes (for Willock, 46): Failed to make an impact from the bench. 6 Tonali (for Longstaff, 57): Change didn’t have the desired effect. Tidy enough but Newcastle ran out of steam and ideas. Wilson (for Gordon, 68): N/A Murphy (for Joelinton, 69): N/A Trippier (for Bruno, 84): N/A Subs not used : Dubravka, Almiron, Targett, Osula WEST HAM: Fabiański 7, Wan-Bissaka 7, Todibo 5 (Mavropanos, 56), Kilman 6, Emerson 7 (Coufal, 75), Soler 8 (Rodríguez, 84), Souček 8, Paquetá 8, Summerville 7 (Irving, 84), Bowen 8, Antonio 7 (Ings, 75) SUBS NOT USED: Areola (GK), Cresswell, Scarles, Luis Guilherme Man of the Match : Bowen. West Ham’s captain was a threat and used the ball superbly throughout. He made the decisive second goal for Wan-Bissaka.
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Athena Technology Acquisition Corp. II Announces Receipt of Notice of Non-Compliance with NYSE American Continued Listing RequirementsWith Girish Mathrubootham stepping down as CEO earlier this year, Freshworks began a critical transformation that was in some ways necessitated by the AI revolution More than any other sector, AI has transformed SaaS like no other inflection point before it — the likes of Freshworks, Zoho and Salesforce risk embracing AI or fading into irrelevance if they fail to do so After laying off hundreds of employees in India, Freshworks is looking at the future through the AI glasses, and in many ways, it’s not the same company that it used to be In August 2024, Freshworks cofounder Girish Mathrubootham popularly known as ‘G’ said, “Five or six years ago, we asked our team a critical question: What could disrupt Freshworks? The answer was AI. That’s when we began investing in Freddy AI. But the ChatGPT demo was a game-changer—it revealed the immense potential of AI. AI is the future, and the world is on the brink of a massive transformation.” It’s hardly a secret that AI is being hailed as the biggest tech revolution since the internet—and rightfully so. It has already transformed industry titans and our daily lives in profound ways. Tech giants like Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Apple, and Amazon have made AI the cornerstone of their product strategies, while the likes of OpenAI and Anthropic have become the new AI native giants of the world. More than any other sector, AI has transformed SaaS like no other inflection point before it — the likes of Freshworks, Zoho and Salesforce risk embracing AI or fading into irrelevance if they fail to do so, as Mathrubootham hinted at. According to the Inc42 SaaS Report 2024 , AI has significantly permeated the Indian SaaS landscape, with 85% of SaaS startups infusing AI into their products and services in some shape or form. The SaaS and GenAI sectors in India are poised to unlock market opportunities worth $70 Bn and $17 Bn, respectively, by 2030. But Freshworks, the AI revolution represents a paradigm shift — not just from the point of view of product development and operation, but also when it comes to leadership. In fact, Freshworks’ example is just one of the many ways in which AI is transforming software giants and a sign of things to come. It began in May 2024, when Mathrubootham announced his resignation as CEO , just a few weeks before he made that above claim in a podcast. The company’s president Dennis Woodside has been named as his successor as Freshworks steps into the AI era. His departure marked the beginning of significant leadership changes at Freshworks. Since then, the company has seen a complete overhaul of its top management, including the chief technology officer (CTO), chief product officer (CPO) , chief revenue officer (CRO), and even the India head. Simply speaking, by the end of 2024, Freshworks is no longer the same company it was one year ago. Mathrubootham has transitioned into the role of executive chairman at Freshworks, but behind the scenes, everything is changing too. Speaking to Inc42, Shelton Rego, the new VP for sales in India, remarked, “I often compare AI to electricity—it takes time to fully integrate and show its impact across applications. Girish foresaw this as early as 2019, laying the groundwork long before AI became a buzzword. Today, we’re already seeing tangible value for customers across employee experience (EX), customer experience (CX), and AI. These three pillars will continue to shape our strategy for the next two to three years, with substantial innovation happening in both EX and CX.” Beyond leadership changes, AI has resulted in a restructuring of the India business. A senior employee revealed that Freshworks recently laid off 660 employees from its nearly 5,000-strong workforce. This rejig has particularly impacted the India operations, and positions the company to execute much of the AI-led transformation, the employee noted. Before the layoffs, around 4,100 of Freshworks’ employees were based in India (as of December 2023), making it the company’s largest operations hub.“India is our biggest contributor on the supply side, while the US, home to our headquarters, drives demand,” the senior employee added. Indeed, North America accounts for over 55% of Freshworks’ revenue, underscoring the importance of the US market. However, the Indian and US entities are dual engines that Freshworks needs for growth. With AI coming into the picture, the focus for Freshworks is efficiency on the supply side to maximise the outcomes on the demand side. This was the sentiment behind Mathrubootham stepping down in some ways. “If I wanted, I could have held onto the CEO title at Freshworks. But the question is: where can I add the most value? Long-term, true long-term value. Investors often ask about the market perception of Freshworks—whether AI will impact or whether AI will disrupt customer service. That’s been the talk of the town. We’ve been working on this for five years,” he said in the same podcast mentioned above. Citing the Java wave and the SaaS waves of the past, Mathrubootham claimed that the AI wave is truly a monster wave, and that he’s excited about riding this one, just like Freshworks did in the past. Rego, who was appointed as VP in September 2024, expanded on this notion, “For the last 40 years humans needed to learn machine languages such as Java, C and so on, to understand machines. Now, machines understand human languages. Machines can understand our feelings, when we are happy or sad. So, now humans don’t have to change.” But does it mean Freshworks has to change to become an AI-first company? Rego claims that Freshworks does not see itself as an AI company, but one that uses AI in applications to help its customers. “In fact, our mission is to provide AI-first software which is easy to use. So, focus is definitely on AI but we are still a software company,” he told Inc42. The focus is on innovation and development in the SaaS application layer to drive meaningful value for its customers. He added that AI is already being practically implemented at enterprise customers that Freshworks caters to. Here’s an example that he cited: With the help of GenAI, Freshworks’ conversation summarisation function helped clients reduce turnaround time by 57%, thanks to actionable insights and recommendations. Indeed, the application layer has emerged as the most accessible way for consumers to adopt AI effectively, so that’s where Freshworks’ current focus is, and that of its competitors, even though some have looked to get into the infrastructure layer as well. Like Zoho, India’s largest SaaS company, which is developing its own LLMs. Once the LLMs are built and deployed, they will be available to Zoho’s 700K customers across ManageEngine and Zoho.com globally. Is Freshworks also building its own LLMs in order to complete the AI stack? Rego neither confirmed nor denied it, but said that there are numerous large language models (LLMs) available today, and Freshworks does not intend to limit customers to just one or two options. The company’s goal is to offer a wide array of services that enable customers to achieve their objectives seamlessly. While Freshworks has not commented on whether it is developing its own LLM, the organization actively leverages existing LLMs to power Freddy AI, its AI-driven platform. Freddy’s core functionalities—such as the AI agent, co-pilot, and insights—are built on these LLMs, which serve as the foundation for its advanced capabilities. “When it comes to the approach we adopt for different industry segments, we follow a clear, tiered strategy. For smaller businesses and digital-first customers, we offer a seamless onboarding experience through our website, enabling them to quickly adopt our services independently. On the other hand, we dedicate significant efforts to serving larger conglomerates—like the Tata Group, Mahindra Group, and Godrej Group—that require comprehensive, enterprise-grade solutions,” the VP explained. Freshworks’ focus in India will be on large-scale enterprises and conglomerates BFSI, media and traditional manufacturing sectors. Rego believes that these are the sectors that have been integral to Freshworks’ growth in India, which are also seeking the productivity and efficiency boost that AI brings. But is generative AI the solution to all SaaS challenges? Not quite. In fact, in India, the impact of AI on SaaS revenue is yet to be clearly ascertained. These are still early days and even those adopting AI-infused SaaS are doing so cautiously. According to various reports, despite a brief resurgence in industry revenue in 2021, median revenue growth rates for public SaaS companies returned to a decade-long downward trend. In 2023, 42% of SaaS companies reported a decline in ARPU (average revenue per user), while 8.2% saw a drop in ACV (annual contract value). As of October, 2024, B2B SaaS growth fell to 3.1% CAGR, while B2C growth dropped to 3.3% CAGR Even Freshworks, an early adopter of AI, has not been immune to these pressures. Despite promising early results from its latest innovations, 2024 has proven to be a difficult year for the company. Following its Q1 2024 earnings call in May, Freshworks shares dropped by 27%, and while in Q3 2024 losses shrank to $29 Mn on a YoY basis, this was still higher than the previous quarter. The sharp decline was attributed to several major developments, including the announcement of a CEO transition, the acquisition of agentless IT solutions company Device42, and a downward revision of the company’s revenue guidance for the year. However, infusing AI into SaaS products does not come cheap. Gartner estimates that organisations may spend between $5 Mn and $20 Mn on embedding or customising AI models, or building GenAI applications for their products. While Rego didn’t comment on the financials and the timeline pertaining to the path to profitability, the India VP added that currently the Indian market is ripe for SaaS innovation, as a whole lot of new customers will be using AI for the first time. Like the pandemic four years ago, there is another digital transformation wave afoot, but this time, businesses are waking up to how deeply transformative AI is as opposed to just adopting SaaS. As Rego added, “For us, the big challenge would be helping our customers with the transformation and this is not going to be easy.” [Edited by Nikhil Subramaniam]
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