Zoho

Indian SaaS Enterprise SoftwareFounded 1996- HQ today: Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India (US operations in Austin, Texas)

Founders

Who Founded Zoho?

Sridhar Vembu, Tony Thomas · Founded 1996 · HQ today: Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India (US operations in Austin, Texas)

Who founded Zoho?

Zoho was founded by Sridhar Vembu, Tony Thomas in 1996. It is now led by Shailesh Kumar Davey.

Founders: Sridhar Vembu, Tony Thomas
Founded: 1996
Headquarters: Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India (US operations in Austin, Texas)
Number of founders: 2
Current CEO: Shailesh Kumar Davey (since 2025)

Where was Zoho founded?: Zoho was founded in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India in 1996.
When was Zoho founded?: Zoho was founded in 1996.
Who started Zoho?: Zoho was founded by Sridhar Vembu and Tony Thomas.
How old is Zoho?: Zoho is 30 years old as of 2026.

Founding Story

Sridhar Vembu, who holds a PhD from Princeton and worked at Qualcomm in San Diego, started AdventNet in 1996 with Tony Thomas and members of the Vembu family. The early business wrote network management software sold to telecom equipment vendors. When that market shrank after 2001, the team built ManageEngine to sell IT management tools to enterprises, and in 2005 began launching online applications under the Zoho name, starting with Zoho Writer and Zoho CRM.

Sridhar Vembu

Background

Electrical engineering PhD from Princeton University; worked at Qualcomm in San Diego before starting AdventNet.

Role at Zoho

Sridhar Vembu co-founded AdventNet in 1996 and led the company, renamed Zoho Corporation in 2009, as CEO until January 2025. He kept the company free of venture capital and promoted hiring and training in smaller towns, working from rural Tamil Nadu. He now serves as chief scientist, focusing on research and AI.

Sridhar Vembu was born in 1968 in Thanjavur. Education: Indian Institute of Technology Madras.

Vembu was born in 1968. He received the Padma Shri, India's fourth-highest civilian award, in 2021.

Tony Thomas

Background

Software engineer who co-founded AdventNet with Sridhar Vembu in 1996.

Role at Zoho

Tony Thomas co-founded AdventNet in 1996 and has remained with the company since. He leads Zoho's US business as CEO of Zoho US. (Exact birth year remains publicly undisclosed).

Zoho: CEO & Leadership History

Full timeline →

Shailesh Kumar Davey

Co-founder and Group Chief Executive Officer

2025 – Present

Co-founder who previously led engineering at ManageEngine; became group CEO in January 2025.

Rajesh Ganesan

CEO, ManageEngine

2025 – Present

Leads the ManageEngine IT management division.

Mani Vembu

CEO, Zoho.com

2025 – Present

Leads the Zoho.com business applications division.

Sridhar Vembu

Co-founder; CEO 1996-2025, now Chief Scientist

1996 – 2025

Led the company from its founding as AdventNet until January 2025 and kept it free of outside capital; now focuses on research and AI.

Tony Thomas

Co-founder and CEO, Zoho US

1996 – Present

Co-founded AdventNet and leads Zoho's US business.

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Who Founded Zoho? FAQ

Who are the original founders of Zoho (AdventNet)?

Zoho was co-founded in 1996 by Sridhar Vembu, Tony Thomas, and Sridhar's brother Kumar Vembu, initially operating from a modest suburban house in Chennai and an apartment in California.

What was Tony Thomas's background and contribution to the company?

Tony Thomas, an IIT Madras alumnus, was AdventNet's founding technologist and Chief Scientist who wrote the company's foundational network management code and served as its first CEO until 2000.

What was Kumar Vembu's role and subsequent entrepreneurial venture?

Kumar Vembu co-founded AdventNet and built its early software operations before spinning off in 2004 to found GoFrugal Technologies, a highly successful retail ERP software company.

How did the founders finance the company's early startup costs?

The founders started AdventNet with personal savings and credit cards, operating frugally and generating positive customer cash flows from their first SNMP network management tool sales.

What other Vembu family members contributed to Zoho's growth?

Sridhar's siblings Radha Vembu and Sekar Vembu played pivotal roles; Radha Vembu has led Zoho Mail and workplace products for decades, becoming one of India's top self-made women leaders.

How did the founders navigate the dot-com bubble's collapse?

When venture-backed tech startups collapsed around them in 2001, the founders used their debt-free cash cushion to build ManageEngine, transforming a crisis into their largest growth engine.

Why did the founders resist high-value acquisition offers from US giants?

During the 2000s, major enterprise tech giants offered hundreds of millions to buy AdventNet and Zoho; the founders declined, valuing creative independence, employee welfare, and long-term purpose.

What enduring cultural philosophy did the founders establish?

The founders instilled a culture of extreme frugality, long-term technical craftsmanship, deep respect for non-credentialed talent, and a commitment to uplifting rural communities.

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Competitor

Explore Zoho

Core profile pages, founders and related research hubs for this company.

Who founded Zoho?

Founding Story

Sridhar Vembu

Background

Role at Zoho

Tony Thomas

Background

Role at Zoho

Zoho: CEO & Leadership History

Compare Zoho Leadership With Competitors

Keep researching Zoho

Who Founded Zoho? FAQ

Who are the original founders of Zoho (AdventNet)?

What was Tony Thomas's background and contribution to the company?

What was Kumar Vembu's role and subsequent entrepreneurial venture?

How did the founders finance the company's early startup costs?

What other Vembu family members contributed to Zoho's growth?

How did the founders navigate the dot-com bubble's collapse?

Why did the founders resist high-value acquisition offers from US giants?

What enduring cultural philosophy did the founders establish?

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