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Freshworks has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Torii, a software management and AI spend governance company. The deal will extend the Freshservice IT platform into those areas. Torii tracks AI consumption to the token, attributes it to the people and teams driving it, and forecasts future use. IT teams can then charge costs back, set limits, and catch spikes early. Founded in 2017, Torii was named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner Magic Quadrant for SaaS Management Platforms. Its customers include Hearst Corporation, Groupon, and Koch, Inc. Freshworks chief executive officer Dennis Woodside said the deal lets finance and IT "stop reconciling spreadsheets and start making decisions together." The acquisition is expected to close in Freshworks' fourth fiscal quarter of 2026, subject to customary closing conditions.

Freshworks to extend Freshservice into AI and software spend governance with agreement to acquire Torii. One context across applications, licenses, identities, and AI spend - so AI can understand and act on it, not just describe it. October 12, 2026 08:00 ET | Source: Freshworks Inc SAN MATEO, Calif., Oct. 12, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) - Freshworks Inc. (NASDAQ: FRSH) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Torii, extending Freshservice into software management and AI spend governance. Modern IT is increasingly asked to govern an estate it can only partially see. The proliferation of SaaS and AI tools has left IT with partial visibility, and AI's consumption-based pricing has introduced a cost model most finance systems were never built to track. Left unaddressed, that gap can lead to unnecessary software spend and increase the security and data risks associated with unmanaged tools. Torii is designed to help close that gap and mitigate blind spots across your software and AI ecosystem. We believe the combination of Freshservice and Torii can bring the full picture of a company's technology inventory, usage, and spend into one place: visibility into every application, license, and identity running across the organization; clarity on what it costs and what it's worth; and faster access for employees with fewer tickets for IT. Torii tracks AI consumption to the token, attributes it to the people and teams driving it, and forecasts where it's heading, so IT can charge it back, set limits, and catch a spike while it's still small. Torii pioneered this category and was recently named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner(R) Magic Quadrant(TM) for SaaS Management Platforms. Companies including Hearst Corporation, Groupon, and Koch, Inc. already trust Torii to govern their software and AI spend. "Modern IT teams are being asked to govern more of the business than ever, with less visibility into what it costs," said Dennis Woodside, CEO and President of Freshworks. "Freshservice already gives IT one place to see everything they run. With Torii, that same view now extends to software and AI spend - what's running, who's using it, and what it costs, so finance and IT stop reconciling spreadsheets and start making decisions together. As AI moves from experiment to infrastructure, Freshservice is how modern IT can govern it at scale." "AI and the software behind it are changing how every team works, and most CIOs still can't see it, let alone control it," said Uri Haramati, CEO of Torii. "We built Torii because IT, finance, and security were each working off a different partial picture of the same problem. Freshservice already gives IT one system of record for everything it runs. Extending that to software and AI means one less blind spot, not one more dashboard." The acquisition is expected to close in Freshworks' fourth fiscal quarter of 2026, subject to customary closing conditions. About Freshworks Freshworks is the AI-powered, unified service operations platform that is fast to deploy, intuitive to use, and enables every employee to be more productive. We offer powerful configurability and scalability, without the operational drag of legacy platforms. Organizations including Bridgestone, New Balance, S&P Global, and Sony Music trust Freshworks to deliver quality employee and customer service and manage efficient technology operations. For the latest updates, visit freshworks.com and follow Freshworks on LinkedIn, X, and Facebook. About Torii Founded in 2017, Torii helps teams turn hidden SaaS and AI activity into governed, accountable operations. The platform offers complete visibility into applications, AI projects, spend, licenses, users, owners, and access across the business, giving teams a single source of truth. By connecting that visibility to automated workflows, Torii helps organizations reduce waste, automate lifecycle tasks, support renewals, and keep compliance evidence ready. To learn more, visit toriihq.com. Media Relations Contact: [email protected]

Africa's AI ambitions hinge on data. Karthik Akula, regional head, Middle East and Africa at Freshworks, speaking to ITWeb Africa at the ITWeb Cloud Summit 2026 in Johannesburg. African organisations need to clean up their data and remove friction between technology systems if they are to ensure growing artificial intelligence (AI) adoption results in meaningful business value. This is according to Karthik Akula, regional head, Middle East and Africa at Freshworks, speaking to ITWeb Africa at the ITWeb Cloud Summit 2026 in Johannesburg. Akula said the next phase of AI adoption will be less about waiting for more capable AI models and more about preparing organisations to use the technology effectively across existing systems. "The difference is going to be how to cut through the clutter in organisations, which impedes AI adoption. Cutting through this clutter means asking and answering fundamental questions Akula added, such as can you clean up your data? "Can you try to remove the friction points between systems to enable AI to operate amongst multiple connected systems and get the context that is necessary for it to take some actions?" To be action-ready, AI must be able to operate within the permissions, policies and governance frameworks established by organisations. However, Akula said AI adoption remains uneven across the continent, reflecting differences in IT maturity, industries and regulatory environments. For organisations that can overcome those internal barriers, AI could provide an opportunity to help narrow the technology gap between African businesses and more mature international markets. "AI is a fantastic opportunity for African organisations to really level up," Akula said. Rather than requiring African businesses to replicate the infrastructure built by more mature technology markets, AI could enable organisations to build on capabilities already available through cloud-based software and platforms. Africa's infrastructure constraints, including connectivity and energy challenges, do not necessarily prevent organisations from benefiting from AI, Akula said. The growing availability of AI through software-as-a-service and platform-as-a-service models means organisations do not have to establish large physical AI infrastructures locally. At the same time, the growing availability of large language models means organisations can focus on developing applications tailored to local requirements rather than building the underlying AI technology themselves. "Africa can benefit from building and customising specific use cases that are relevant to the continent." However, as Akula explains, the challenge is to ensure those applications are supported by the organisational foundations needed to make AI useful. For Akula, that means focusing on adopting technology that is already available rather than waiting for a future generation of AI to solve organisational shortcomings. "The real value comes from its adoption, even in the current form, rather than looking for a better version of AI," he concluded.