Sridhar Vembu
Founder of Zoho, building global software from rural India
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Sridhar Vembu is the founder of Zoho, a software company that makes business applications used around the world. He is known for building Zoho without venture capital and for moving his own work to a village in Tamil Nadu to develop rural talent.
Biography
From IIT to Princeton
Sridhar Vembu grew up in a middle-class family in Tamil Nadu, studied electrical engineering at IIT Madras and earned a PhD at Princeton University. He worked at Qualcomm in California before returning to start a company.
Zoho
In 1996 he founded AdventNet with his siblings and friends, which later became Zoho Corporation. Zoho makes a wide range of business software, from email and accounting to customer management, used by millions of people worldwide. The company grew without taking venture capital.
Rural India
Vembu moved to Mathalamparai, a village near Tenkasi in Tamil Nadu, and opened offices in small towns, arguing that rural India can produce world-class technology talent. Zoho Schools of Learning trains young people without college degrees for software jobs.
Honours
He received the Padma Shri in 2021. In 2025 he stepped down as chief executive to focus on research and development as chief scientist.
Timeline
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1996
Founds AdventNet (later Zoho)
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2009
Company renamed Zoho
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2021
Padma Shri
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2025
Becomes chief scientist
Awards and honours
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Padma Shri
2021
Did you know?
-
1
He works from a village in Tamil Nadu.
-
2
Zoho never raised venture capital.
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3
Zoho trains school leavers to become software developers.
Connections
Frequently asked
Who is Sridhar Vembu?
Sridhar Vembu is the founder of Zoho, a software company that makes business applications used around the world. He is known for building Zoho without venture capital and for moving his own work to a village in Tamil Nadu to develop rural talent.
Where is Sridhar Vembu from?
Sridhar Vembu was born in Thanjavur district, Tamil Nadu.
What is Sridhar Vembu known for?
Sridhar Vembu is best known for Founding Zoho; running a global software company from a village office; rural development.
What awards has Sridhar Vembu received?
Notable honours include Padma Shri (2021).
References
- Sridhar Vembu — Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Retrieved 2 November 2026.
- Sridhar Vembu — Hindi Wikipedia. Wikipedia (Hindi). Retrieved 2 November 2026.
- Sridhar Vembu (Q104864971) — structured data. Wikidata. Retrieved 2 November 2026.
Includes material from the Wikipedia article “Sridhar Vembu”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. That text is available under the same licence. Learn more
External links
About this profile
- Researched by the TrackFame editorial team; reviewed by Sanjay Sokal under our editorial policy
- First published 2 November 2026
- Last updated
Cite this page
“Sridhar Vembu.” TrackFame, last updated 3 November 2026. https://trackfame.com/person/sridhar-vembu
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