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Zendesk

Organization

A customer service software company that was taken private. It's mentioned as an example of a business whose entire workflow could potentially be replaced by open-source AI agents.


First Mentioned

1/3/2026, 4:16:34 AM

Last Updated

1/3/2026, 4:22:25 AM

Research Retrieved

1/3/2026, 4:22:25 AM

Summary

Zendesk, Inc. is a global software-as-a-service (SaaS) company specializing in customer service, sales, and communication solutions. Founded in 2007 in Copenhagen, Denmark, by Mikkel Svane, Alexander Aghassipour, and Morten Primdahl, the company later moved its headquarters to San Francisco, California. Zendesk went public in 2014 after raising $86 million in venture capital but returned to private ownership in November 2022 following a $10.2 billion acquisition by an investor group led by Hellman & Friedman and Permira. Recently, the company has faced strategic challenges from the rise of AI-driven customer support automation, as seen in cases like Klarna, which could potentially disrupt traditional SaaS support models.

Referenced in 1 Document
Research Data
Extracted Attributes
  • CEO

    Tom Eggemeier

  • Revenue

    1.34 billion USD (2021)

  • Founders

    Mikkel Svane, Alexander Aghassipour, Morten Primdahl

  • Industry

    Software as a Service (SaaS)

  • Headquarters

    181 Fremont, San Francisco, California, United States

  • Customer Base

    160,000 businesses

  • Employee Count

    Approximately 5,400

  • Acquisition Value

    10.2 billion USD

  • Venture Capital Raised

    86 million USD

Timeline
  • Zendesk is founded in Copenhagen, Denmark, by three friends in a small loft. (Source: Wikidata)

    2007-01-01

  • Zendesk completes its initial public offering (IPO) and begins trading on the NYSE under the symbol ZEN. (Source: Wikipedia)

    2014-05-15

  • Zendesk reports annual revenue of $1.34 billion. (Source: Web Search)

    2021-12-31

  • Zendesk is acquired by an investor group led by Hellman & Friedman and Permira for approximately $10.2 billion. (Source: Wikipedia)

    2022-11-22

  • Industry analysts discuss the threat to Zendesk's business model posed by AI assistants like those deployed by Klarna. (Source: dc653a59-1711-437d-95cf-b5b07878217e)

    2024-02-28

Zendesk

Zendesk, Inc. is an American company that provides software-as-a-service (SaaS) products related to customer support, sales, and other customer communications. The company was founded in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2007 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States. Zendesk raised about $86 million in venture capital investments before going public in 2014. On November 22, 2022, Zendesk announced that it had been acquired by a group of investors led by Hellman & Friedman and Permira for approximately $10.2 billion.

Web Search Results
  • Zendesk - Wikipedia

    Zendesk, Inc. is an American company that provides software-as-a-service (SaaS) products related to customer support, sales, and other customer communications. The company was founded in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2007 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States. Zendesk raised about $86 million in venture capital investments before going public in 2014. [...] Zendesk was founded in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2007 by three friends: Morten Primdahl, Alexander Aghassipour, and Mikkel Svane. The founders started developing the Zendesk software in Svane's loft. Initially, Zendesk was funded by the cofounders themselves, each doing consulting jobs to support their families. Within a few months of the Zendesk software-as-a-service product being released in the fall of 2007, it had about 1,000 trial customers. Initially, interest in the software spread slowly [...] | Company type | Private | | Traded as | NYSE: ZEN (2014–2022) | | Industry | Software as a service | | Founded | 2007; 18 years ago (2007) in Copenhagen, Denmark | | Founders | Mikkel Svane Alexander Aghassipour Morten Primdahl | | Headquarters | 181 Fremont, San Francisco, California , U.S. | | Number of locations | 19 (2022) | | Key people | Tom Eggemeier (CEO) | | Revenue | US$1.34 billion (2021) | | Operating income | US$−166.68 million (2021) |

  • What is Zendesk? Powerful customer experience software

    Zendesk is a complete customer service solution that’s easy to use and scales with your business. Learn more about Zendesk for Service. Zendesk Sales CRM enhances productivity, processes, and pipeline visibility for sales teams. Learn more about Zendesk for Sales. [...] Successful companies also understand the need for technology/software that helps their business adapt in today's world. Founded to democratize customer service software and make it easy to try, buy, and use, Zendesk is built on an open and flexible platform that is quick to set up and fully customizable. With Zendesk, companies of all sizes across industries make it easy for customers to do business with them. Our solutions set teams up for success and keep businesses in sync. The result: [...] The most successful businesses understand the importance of great customer experiences. At Zendesk, we believe that every great customer relationship stems from a seamless customer experience. So we built a software company that designs solutions to foster better customer relationship

  • What is Zendesk and what is its purpose? - GrowthDot

    Zendesk is primarily used to serve, support, and engage customers. It helps companies manage all their customer interactions in one place for more efficient customer service. The software turns all customer inquiries into manageable tickets to ensure every issue is tracked and resolved promptly. Omnichannel support, a self-service platform, integrated analytics capabilities, advanced AI, and much more—all of which form the well-known end-to-end customer service solution known as Zendesk. [...] Try Zendesk for Free Try Zendesk for Free ### About the company Zendesk is a company that provides all kinds of software for customer support services. It was founded in 2007 in Copenhagen, Denmark, and was first run in a small loft. Now, it is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and it helps about 160,000 businesses connect to their customers on different platforms and provide better service and experience. Over 5,400 employees work for Zendesk in more than 160 countries. [...] Zendesk gathers all the customer queries and shows them on one screen in one place. You can manage and respond to customer questions easily and quickly. When all the queries from chat, email, and social media are heading to you in a single location, it will help you manage and solve problems straightforwardly.

  • What is Zendesk? An Overview of Top Features & Functionality

    Home Blog / What is Zendesk? An Overview of Top Features & Functionality # What is Zendesk? An Overview of Top Features & Functionality See how Zendesk improves customer service and sales metrics, its key features, pricing plans, top competitors, and how to secure the best deal. Zendesk is a powerful customer service and sales platform that helps teams improve across essential retention-related metrics, including productivity, customer satisfaction, conversion rates, and response times. [...] 736 deals handled, average contract value of $161K, and average savings of 15% Buy Zendesk with Vendr ## What is Zendesk? An overview Zendesk is a customer service and sales platform that helps you manage customer communication and support processes across multiple channels within a single, consolidated space. It offers a range of products that enable teams of all sizes to provide personalized support, automate workflows, and improve response times. [...] Zendesk for service offers tools to manage customer and employee interactions across channels and streamline support processes. Key features include:

  • What is Zendesk, and is it good for your business? - Lotus Themes

    Zendesk Help Center, also known as Guide, is a smart knowledge base that allows you to create self-service and empower your agents. Help Center gathers and organizes frequently asked questions, product features, and everything your customers ask about. It is perfect to combine with Zendesk Support, which speeds up your team’s work even more. Also you can read about companies that use Zendesk Help Center. ### 3. Zendesk Chat. Reach your customers instantly wherever they are. [...] Zendesk Sunshine is a modern and pliable customer relationship management (CRM) platform native to AWS. Zendesk Sunshine gives shareholders of a given company the privilege to integrate their data sources into CRM data. The connection between their data sources with that of customer relationship management assists the organization's stakeholders monitor their performance. [...] Zendesk aims to help support, sales, and customer success teams engage with their customers better. This means that you can pay for fewer tools and keep all your customer data in one place. Let’s get down to the cases when you need Zendesk products. ### 1. Zendesk Support. Track, prioritize, and solve customer tickets.

Location Data

Zendesk, 989, Market Street, Tenderloin, South of Market, San Francisco, California, 94102, United States

company

Coordinates: 37.7824032, -122.4097724

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