Toast vs Zerodha: Founders, CEOs and History
Toast was founded in 2011 by Aman Narang, Steve Fredette, Jonathan Grimm and is led by Aman Narang. Zerodha was founded in 2010 by Nithin Kamath, Nikhil Kamath and is led by Nithin Kamath.
Company facts
Founders
Toast
Aman Narang
Aman Narang co-founded Toast in 2011 alongside Steve Fredette and Jonathan Grimm. Originally attempting to build a mobile payment app for restaurants, the founders pivoted to building a complete Android-based point-of-sale system.
Steve Fredette
Steve Fredette co-founded Toast in 2011. As President and long-time product visionary, he architected the company's shift from a simple POS hardware provider into a comprehensive software ecosystem handling payroll, inventory, and online ordering for restauran…
Jonathan Grimm
Jonathan Grimm co-founded Toast and served as its Chief Technology Officer. He built the initial cloud-native backend that allowed restaurants to manage menus and view analytics from anywhere, a massive upgrade over the hard-wired, on-premise servers used by l…
Zerodha
Nithin Kamath
Nithin Kamath co-founded Zerodha in 2010. Having started day trading at age 17 and suffering massive losses during the 2001 dot-com crash and 2008 financial crisis, he was deeply furious at the astronomically high brokerage fees charged by legacy Indian banks.…
Nikhil Kamath
Nikhil Kamath co-founded Zerodha in 2010. A highly skilled, aggressive day trader who dropped out of school at age 14, he provided the absolute critical trading expertise to ensure the platform catered perfectly to high-volume derivative traders, who generate…
CEOs and their tenures
Toast
- Chris Comparato2015–2023
Chief Executive Officer
As CEO from 2015 to 2023, he scaled the company from a small startup into the dominant cloud POS provider in the US restaurant industry, increasing locations served to over 100,000.
Source - Aman Narang2024–present
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
He successfully guided the company toward GAAP profitability while maintaining massive market share growth against rivals like Square and Clover.
Source
Zerodha
- Nithin Kamath2010–present
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Has led Zerodha since founding and publishes regular updates on its finances and risks.
Source - Nikhil Kamath2010–present
Co-Founder
As Co-Founder, he acts as the absolute financial mastermind, managing the incredibly profitable proprietary trading and investment arms of the massive, bootstrapped unicorn.
Source - Kailash Nadh2013–present
Chief Technology Officer
As the legendary CTO, he built an absolutely world-class, ultra-lean engineering team capable of processing millions of concurrent trades with virtually zero downtime, severely crippling legacy banking rivals.
Source
Timeline: Toast and Zerodha side by side
2010Zerodha
Zerodha founded in Bengaluru
Nithin and Nikhil Kamath started operations on 15 August 2010.
2011Toast
Toast Founded in Cambridge by MIT Endeca Alumni
Aman Narang, Steve Fredette, and Jonathan Grimm founded Toast to build cloud software for restaurants.
2013Toast
Pivots from Mobile Consumer App to Full Restaurant POS
Pivoted to a complete cloud restaurant POS system, signing its first commercial restaurant in Cambridge.
2015Toast
$30M Series B Led by Bessemer Venture Partners
Raised $30 million, crossing 1,000 restaurant locations and expanding regional field sales across the US.
2015Zerodha
Free equity delivery and Kite
Zerodha dropped brokerage on delivery trades and moved clients to its own Kite platform.
2018Toast
$115M Series D at $1.4B Valuation & Launches Toast Go
Raised a $115 million Series D led by TCV and Tiger Global, reaching unicorn status, and launched the Toast Go handheld.
2019Zerodha
Largest Broker by Active Clients
Zerodha became the largest retail stockbroker in India by active clients in 2019.
2020Toast
$400M Series F at $4.9B Valuation & COVID-19 Operational Pivot
Raised a $400 million Series F at a $4.9 billion valuation in February 2020, then cut about half its workforce in April 2020 as COVID-19 shut dining rooms.
2021Toast
Historic Initial Public Offering on the NYSE (NYSE: TOST)
Went public on the New York Stock Exchange, raising $870 million at an opening valuation of $20 billion.
2021Toast
Toast IPO
Toast went public on the New York Stock Exchange in September 2021.
2023Toast
Expands to Canada, UK and Ireland; Crosses 100,000 Locations
Began selling outside the US and passed 100,000 restaurant locations.
2023Zerodha
Zerodha Fund House launches its first funds
After announcing a mutual fund joint venture with smallcase in April 2023, Zerodha Fund House opened its first two passive index funds, with the offer period running to November 3, 2023.
2024Toast
Aman Narang Appointed CEO & Toast Achieves GAAP Profitability
Co-founder Aman Narang became CEO on January 1, 2024; Toast reported $19 million of GAAP net income for the year, its first annual profit.
2024Zerodha
Margin trading facility launched
Zerodha began offering margin trading funding in December 2024.
2025Toast
Revenue Reaches $6.15B and Net Income $342M
Added a record 30,000 net locations to about 164,000 and processed about $195 billion in GPV.
2026Toast
About 180,000 Locations and $2.4B ARR by Mid-Year
Q2 2026 revenue rose 23% to $1.91 billion with a record 9,500 net location adds.
2026Zerodha
FY26 profit of ~$497 million (₹4,283 crore)
Profit rose about 1.2% while revenue stayed roughly flat.
2026Zerodha
Merchant banking registration
Zerodha Corporate Advisors received a Category-I merchant banking registration from SEBI.
Acquisitions
Toast
- Delphi Display Systems2023Undisclosed
- xtraCHEF2021Undisclosed
- Sling2021Undisclosed
Questions about Toast vs Zerodha
Who is the CEO of Toast, Inc. and Zerodha?
Toast, Inc. is led by Aman Narang and Zerodha is led by Nithin Kamath. Both serve as the top executive responsible for the company's strategy, operations, and financial performance.
When was Toast, Inc. founded vs Zerodha?
Zerodha was founded in 2010 — 1 year before Toast, Inc., which was founded in 2011. Zerodha's longer operating history gives it a deeper track record but also potentially more institutional inertia compared to the younger Toast, Inc..
How many employees does Toast, Inc. have compared to Zerodha?
Toast, Inc. employs approximately 6,500 people, while Zerodha employs approximately 1,100. Toast, Inc. has the larger workforce at 6,500 employees, compared to Zerodha's 1,100. A higher headcount does not necessarily imply greater efficiency — it often reflects differences in business model (e.g., manufacturing vs. software).
Where are Toast, Inc. and Zerodha headquartered?
Toast, Inc. is headquartered in United States and Zerodha is headquartered in India. Their different home markets mean they may face different regulatory frameworks, tax regimes, and currency exposure.
Who founded Toast, Inc. and Zerodha?
Toast, Inc. was founded by Aman Narang, Steve Fredette, Jonathan Grimm. Zerodha was founded by Nithin Kamath, Nikhil Kamath.
Which company has a longer operating history — Toast, Inc. or Zerodha?
Zerodha has been operating for approximately 16 years, making it the more established of the two companies. Toast, Inc. has been in operation for around 15 years. A longer operating history often signals greater institutional resilience and brand recognition, though it can also mean slower adaptation to new market conditions.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the Toast vs Zerodha overview