Zoho Corporation

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Indian multinational provider of cloud business software, enterprise applications, and IT management tools.

Last updated November 4, 2026

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Overview

Zoho Corporation is an Indian multinational technology company that develops cloud-based business software and enterprise IT management products. The company serves small and medium-sized businesses as its historical core market, while also offering products that can be deployed by larger organizations and public-sector institutions. Its portfolio covers customer relationship management, sales and marketing, finance, human resources, collaboration, office productivity, project management, analytics, customer support, operations, cybersecurity, and information-technology administration. The business was founded in New Jersey in 1996 by Sridhar Vembu and Tony Thomas under the name AdventNet, Inc. Its first major product area was network-management software, including the WebNMS platform. AdventNet expanded into Japan in 2001 and began concentrating more strongly on small and medium-sized businesses. In 2002 it established the enterprise IT-management division that became ManageEngine, which remains an important part of the wider business and offers both cloud and on-premises software. Zoho began building its application-software identity in the mid-2000s. Zoho CRM and Zoho Writer were introduced in 2005, followed by products such as Zoho Projects, Zoho Creator, Zoho Sheet, and Zoho Show in 2006. Zoho Docs and Zoho Meeting expanded the portfolio into file management, collaboration, and online communications in 2007, while mail and invoicing applications followed in 2008. In 2009, AdventNet changed its corporate name to Zoho Corporation, reflecting the growing importance of its online office and business-software brand. The company has emphasized an integrated product strategy rather than dependence on a single application. Zoho One, introduced in 2017, combined more than 40 applications into a broad business suite. Zoho Workplace, launched in 2020, brought together productivity, communication, collaboration, and email capabilities. Other prominent products include Zoho Books for accounting, Zoho People for human resources, Zoho Desk for customer support, Zoho Projects for project management, and Zoho CRM for sales and customer operations. ManageEngine adds products for endpoint management, security, network administration, and other IT functions. Zoho remains privately held and has historically avoided an initial public offering and conventional venture-capital ownership. Its operations are centered in India, particularly Chennai, with additional Indian locations including Tenkasi, Renigunta, Nagpur, and Kumbakonam, as well as offices and data-center operations in international markets. The company states that it operates in more than 80 countries. Its US headquarters has moved within Texas, and the company maintains a substantial North American presence. Zoho has also expanded beyond conventional business applications. Arattai is an instant-messaging product launched in 2021, and Ulaa is a Chromium-based browser introduced in 2023 with a stated emphasis on privacy and Indian-rooted internet infrastructure. The company has promoted its products in the context of digital sovereignty and domestic technology capacity in India. A 2023 government tender led to the planned migration of Indian central-government email accounts and office-productivity use to Zoho services. This public-sector role has increased the company's visibility but has also prompted debate about whether sovereign functions should depend on a private technology provider and about the security and governance of its products. Zoho has continued investing in artificial intelligence, infrastructure, and locally distributed development. In 2023, Gofrugal, a business-software company founded by Sridhar Vembu's brother Kumar Vembu, merged with Zoho. In January 2025, co-founder Shailesh Kumar Davey became group chief executive, while Sridhar Vembu moved into a chief-scientist role focused on research and development. The company has also announced enterprise AI work under the Zia name and continued development of its own data-center hardware and infrastructure. Its overall positioning combines broad application coverage, subscription software, private ownership, and a stated preference for long-term product development over public-market or venture-capital pressures.

History

Zoho Corporation began in 1996 as AdventNet, Inc., founded in New Jersey by Sridhar Vembu and Tony Thomas. The company initially focused on network-management software, particularly the WebNMS product line. Its early international expansion included Japan in 2001. During the early 2000s, the business increasingly targeted small and medium-sized companies, while also creating an enterprise IT-management division in 2002. That division later operated under the ManageEngine brand and became a major pillar of the company's broader software portfolio. The Zoho application brand emerged in the mid-2000s. Zoho CRM and Zoho Writer appeared in 2005, followed in 2006 by products including Zoho Projects, Zoho Creator, Zoho Sheet, and Zoho Show. Zoho Docs and Zoho Meeting extended the portfolio into document storage and online collaboration in 2007. Mail and invoicing products were added in 2008. In 2009, AdventNet adopted the name Zoho Corporation, aligning the corporate identity with its increasingly prominent web-based office and business applications. The company developed a strategy based on a large, connected portfolio rather than a narrow single-product focus. Zoho One, launched in 2017, grouped more than 40 applications into one platform. Zoho Workplace, introduced in 2020, consolidated productivity, collaboration, communication, and email functions. The portfolio also expanded across finance, human resources, customer service, marketing, analytics, operations, and IT administration. ManageEngine continued to offer on-premises and cloud software for network management, endpoint administration, cybersecurity, and related enterprise needs. Zoho formalized its user community through the Zoholics conference, first held in India in 2014. It also broadened its consumer-adjacent and infrastructure activities. Arattai, an instant-messaging application, launched in 2021, and Ulaa, a Chromium-based browser, was released in 2023. The company has presented these initiatives, together with its Indian development and infrastructure footprint, as part of a broader argument for domestic technology capability and digital sovereignty. The company remains privately owned. Its operating base is concentrated in India, particularly Chennai, but it has offices in more than 80 countries and a major US presence. Indian locations have included Tenkasi, Renigunta, Nagpur, and Kumbakonam. Zoho also operates international offices and data centers. In 2023, it merged with Gofrugal, founded by Kumar Vembu, and continued work on local research and development in data-center hardware. Zoho's public-sector role expanded after it won an Indian government tender in 2023. The resulting program involved moving a large population of central-government email accounts from the existing government system to Zoho Mail and shifting office productivity toward Zoho Workplace. Supporters described the move as strengthening Indian technology independence, while critics argued that assigning a sovereign communications function to a private company creates governance, security, and accountability concerns. Security incidents have been an important part of Zoho's recent public record. Exploitation of vulnerabilities in ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus affected customers and was associated with the compromise of data held by the International Committee of the Red Cross. Later criticism concerned a reported SQL-injection vulnerability and the encryption properties of Arattai. These events have complicated the company's digital-sovereignty messaging, even as Zoho continues to invest in security, infrastructure, and enterprise artificial intelligence. In January 2025, Shailesh Kumar Davey became group CEO, and Sridhar Vembu moved into the chief-scientist position to concentrate on research and development. Zoho has also announced work on enterprise AI under the Zia name. Its long-term model remains distinctive in the software industry: a privately held, India-centered company offering a broad integrated suite, avoiding a public listing, and combining business applications with IT-management products and proprietary infrastructure research.

2025
Leadership transition
[1]Zoho Corporationen.wikipedia.org
Shailesh Kumar Davey became group CEO and Sridhar Vembu became chief scientist.
2023
Ulaa browser launches
[1]Zoho Corporationen.wikipedia.org
Zoho introduced Ulaa, a Chromium-based browser with a stated privacy and Indian-infrastructure focus.
2023
Gofrugal merger
[1]Zoho Corporationen.wikipedia.org
Gofrugal merged with Zoho, expanding the company's business-management software capabilities.
2021
Arattai launches
[1]Zoho Corporationen.wikipedia.org
Zoho released its instant-messaging application Arattai.
2020
Zoho Workplace launches
[1]Zoho Corporationen.wikipedia.org
The company launched an integrated suite for workplace productivity, collaboration, communication, and email.
2017
Zoho One launches
[1]Zoho Corporationen.wikipedia.org
Zoho introduced a unified platform combining more than 40 integrated applications.
2014
First Zoholics conference in India
[1]Zoho Corporationen.wikipedia.org
Zoho held its first annual user conference in India.
2009
AdventNet becomes Zoho Corporation
[1]Zoho Corporationen.wikipedia.org
The corporate name changed to Zoho Corporation.
2005
Zoho CRM and Zoho Writer launch
[1]Zoho Corporationen.wikipedia.org
The company introduced its CRM product and its first online office-suite application.
2002
ManageEngine division begins
[1]Zoho Corporationen.wikipedia.org
The company established its enterprise IT-management software division, later known as ManageEngine.
1996
AdventNet is founded
[1]Zoho Corporationen.wikipedia.org
Sridhar Vembu and Tony Thomas founded AdventNet, Inc. in New Jersey.

Products and positioning

An integrated, privately held business-software ecosystem for small and medium-sized businesses, with products that also scale to larger enterprises and public-sector users.

Customer relationship management · 2005
Zoho CRM
Zoho CRM is the company's customer relationship management platform for organizing leads, accounts, contacts, sales pipelines, customer interactions, and related business workflows. It is one of Zoho's foundational application products and connects with the wider Zoho portfolio.
Integrated business suite · 2017
Zoho One
Zoho One is a broad business-software platform that brings together more than 40 applications across sales, marketing, finance, customer service, human resources, collaboration, operations, and analytics. Its purpose is to provide a connected alternative to assembling many unrelated SaaS vendors.
Productivity and collaboration · 2020
Zoho Workplace
Zoho Workplace combines office productivity, email, communication, file management, and collaboration tools. It incorporates products such as Zoho Mail and supports the company's strategy of offering an integrated workplace environment for organizations.
Accounting and finance
Zoho Books
Zoho Books is cloud accounting software for business finance workflows, including bookkeeping, invoicing, expenses, and related financial administration. It forms part of Zoho's finance application portfolio and integrates with other business systems.
Project management · 2006
Zoho Projects
Zoho Projects is a project-management application for planning work, tracking tasks, coordinating teams, and monitoring project progress. It was among the products added during Zoho's early expansion beyond CRM and office productivity.
IT management and cybersecurity · 2002
ManageEngine
ManageEngine is Zoho's enterprise IT-management brand. Its portfolio includes on-premises and cloud products for network management, endpoint management, identity and access administration, cybersecurity, service management, and related operational functions.
Business email · 2008
Zoho Mail
Zoho Mail is an email-hosting service for individuals and organizations, including support for custom domains and integration with other Zoho Workplace products. It became especially prominent in India through the government's planned migration of central-government accounts.
Instant messaging · 2021
Arattai
Arattai is Zoho's instant-messaging application, launched in 2021. It is positioned as an India-developed communications alternative and has also been extended with a business-focused application for managing customer conversations and organizational presence.
Web browser · 2023
Ulaa Browser
Ulaa is a web browser based on the Chromium open-source project. Zoho presents it as a privacy-oriented browser; its DNS configuration has been described as routing queries through India's national root-server system rather than default global providers.

Controversies

2025
Security and encryption criticism
A reported SQL-injection vulnerability raised concerns about unauthorized database queries, while Arattai was criticized for not providing end-to-end encryption for chats.
Source
2022
International Committee of the Red Cross compromise
The International Committee of the Red Cross reported that data relating to approximately 515,000 people had been compromised in an attack exploiting the ManageEngine vulnerability. The organization acknowledged that it had not applied a patch released by Zoho.
Source
2021
ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus exploitation
Attackers exploited vulnerabilities in ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus. The incident became associated with later attacks against organizations that had not applied available security updates.
Source

2023Indian digital-sovereignty positioning
India
Zoho promoted its Indian-developed products and infrastructure in connection with public-sector adoption and the wider policy conversation around reducing dependence on foreign technology providers.
Outcome. Raised Zoho's public-sector profile while generating debate about private-sector control of sovereign digital services.
Source
2014Zoholics
India
Zoho began its annual user-conference program in India, creating a recurring forum for product education, customer engagement, and ecosystem development.
Outcome. Established an ongoing customer and user-community event.
Source

Brand decisions

2025
Separate executive management from research leadershipOther
Background
Zoho sought to maintain operational leadership while allowing co-founder Sridhar Vembu to focus more closely on research and development.
Action taken
Shailesh Kumar Davey became group CEO and Vembu became chief scientist.
Aftermath
The transition preserved Vembu's involvement in the company while changing day-to-day group leadership.
Source
2023
Support Indian public-sector digital infrastructureStrategy
Background
An Indian government tender sought to move central-government communications and productivity workloads onto an alternative platform.
Action taken
Zoho won the tender associated with migrating government email accounts to Zoho Mail and office productivity to Zoho Workplace.
Aftermath
The program advanced Zoho's domestic-sovereignty narrative but prompted criticism concerning reliance on a private provider and product security.
Source
2017
Launch Zoho OneProduct launch
Background
Customers increasingly sought connected business systems rather than isolated point applications.
Action taken
Zoho introduced a platform combining more than 40 applications.
Aftermath
The suite strengthened Zoho's positioning as an integrated alternative to collections of separate SaaS products.
Source
2009
Adopt the Zoho corporate identityStrategy
Background
The online office and business-application brand had become central to AdventNet's market identity.
Action taken
The company changed its name from AdventNet, Inc. to Zoho Corporation.
Aftermath
The renamed company continued expanding its integrated cloud-application portfolio while retaining ManageEngine for IT-management products.
Source

Recent events

2026-11-02
Zoho updates Analytics with multi-agent AI[2]Zoho 为 Analytics 平台加入多智能体 AIkenya-today.com
Reported: 2026-11-02
Zoho announced an upgrade to its Analytics platform that adds a multi-agent AI system, conversational data queries, action execution, new data connectors and privacy controls.
2026-10-28
Ask Zia upgrade adds six specialized AI agents[3]Ask Zia 升级并新增六个专用 AI 智能体smallbiztrends.com
Reported: 2026-10-28
Zoho announced an upgrade to Ask Zia, its AI-powered business intelligence assistant within Zoho Analytics. The upgrade adds a multi-agent architecture with six specialized agents, and the cloud platform updates became available on October 28.
Unconfirmed
Zoho's Arattai messaging app launches on Android TV in India[4]Zoho旗下Arattai消息应用在印度推出Android TV版newsx.com
Reported: 2026-01-04
Zoho's Arattai messaging app, positioned as an Indian rival to WhatsApp, is now available on Android TV smart TVs in India, allowing users to make video calls and view scheduled and recorded meetings on the big screen.
Unconfirmed
CIEL HR Services raises ₹30 crore in pre-IPO round[5]CIEL HR Services在IPO前融资3亿卢比freepressjournal.in
Reported: 2026-01-03
CIEL HR Services raised ₹30 crore through a pre-IPO placement of 27,27,272 equity shares at ₹110 apiece from 88 investors, including Zoho Corporation, Pegasus India and Standard Fireworks, ahead of its proposed IPO.
2021-12-13
Ultraviolette raises Series C funding[6]Ultraviolette完成C轮融资news.webindia123.com
Reported: 2021-12-13
Ultraviolette Automotive announced that it had raised a Series C funding round led by TVS Motor Company, with Zoho Corporation also participating.
2021-11-23
Zoho Creator 6.0 released[7]Zoho Creator 6.0正式发布prnasia.com
Reported: 2021-11-23
Zoho released Zoho Creator 6.0, an update to its low-code development platform with expanded capabilities across application development.
2021-08-25
Zoho partners with TAQADAM[8]Zoho 与 TAQADAM 建立合作伙伴关系arabnews.com
Reported: 2021-08-24
Zoho Corporation entered into a strategic partnership with Saudi startup accelerator TAQADAM, providing associated startups with access to Zoho enterprise technology, including free Zoho Wallet credits and consultation and technical support.
2021-07-13
Zoho launches self-service BI platform[9]Zoho推出自助式商业智能平台cio.com
Reported: 2021-07-13
Zoho announced an AI-powered self-service business intelligence platform combining a new Zoho DataPrep application with an enhanced version of Zoho Analytics. The platform is available in cloud and on-premises versions.
2020-11-12
Zoho and Tata Consultancy Services partner on business solutions[10]Zoho与塔塔咨询服务合作提供企业解决方案pcr-online.biz
Reported: 2020-11-12
Zoho and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) are partnering to provide customer relationship management, IT service management and e-commerce solutions to large businesses.
2020-09-30
Google partners with businesses to support small-business digitization[11]Google与多家企业合作支持小企业数字化financialexpress.com
Reported: 2020-09-30
Google India partnered with Zoho and Instamojo to help small and medium businesses build a digital presence, and with Dunzo and Swiggy to support onboarding, online orders and delivery logistics.

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