Shares of Zendesk Inc. rose slightly in late trading today after the customer service and sales software provider reported better-than-expected revenue in its first quarter.

For the quarter ended March 31, Zendesk reported a profit before costs such as stock compensation of $15.1 million, or 12 cents per share, compared with $21.4 million, or 18 cents per share, in the same quarter last year. Revenue rose 30%, to $388 million. Analysts had expected an adjusted profit of 14 cents a share on revenue of $384.6 million.

Highlights in the quarter included Zendesk securing new larger customers and expanding its business with existing customers. Customers that generated under $250,000 in annual recurring revenue now account for 39% of Zendesk’s ARR, with customer accounts under $250,000 growing 41% year-over-year. Zendesk customers with under $1 million ARR have increased to 140, up 65% from the same quarter of last year.

“Our continued push into enterprise, coupled with customers’ ongoing adoption of Zendesk Suite, is building a stronger foundation for our business long-term,” Mike Svane (pictured), chief executive officer of Zendesk, said in a letter to shareholders. “We continue to invest to advance our move upmarket that ultimately drives bigger deals, stickier customer relationships and better visibility for revenue growth and profitability long-term.”

Looking forward, Zendesk said that it expected an adjusted profit in the range of $18 million to $24 million in the quarter ending June 30 on revenue of $1.685 billion to $1.71 billion. Analysts had predicted revenue $1.69 billion.

Shares in Zendesk rose almost 2% after the bell.

Zendesk’s latest earnings come after the company was reported to have hired an advisory firm to explore a potential sale, some two months after rejecting a private equity takeover.

It was reported that Zendesk had hired Qatalyst Partners to explore sales opportunities and that the company had already reached out to potential buyers, including software companies and private equity firms. A final decision as to whether Zendesk would be sold had not been made as of the time of the report.

The potential move by Zendesk to sell itself came after it failed in an attempt to acquire to Momentive Global Inc., the company behind SurveyMonkey, for $4.1 billion. The acquisition, announced in October, collapsed in February after Zendesk shareholders rejected the deal.

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