Dr Sridhar Vembu co-founded Zoho Corporation in 1996 and served as the company’s CEO from 2000 to 2024. In 2025, he assumed the role of Chief Scientist to focus on deep-tech R&D, particularly in AI development. Zoho Corporation has emerged as the largest software product company in India while pursuing a unique set of choices that span hiring, training, product strategy, location and customer satisfaction, all driven by a holistic philosophy that puts contentment and humility as key virtues.

Dr Sridhar Vembu is the Chief Scientist and Co-founder of Zoho Corporation, one of India’s most successful homegrown technology companies. Dr Vembu completed Electrical Engineering at IIT Madras and went on to complete his Master’s degree and PhD from Princeton University. After a brief stint at Qualcomm in the United States, he co-founded AdventNet in 1996, which later evolved into Zoho Corporation. He was one of the first Indian entrepreneurs to bet big on SaaS, and started the Zoho brand for cloud products as early as 2005. This eventually led to the creation of an ecosystem that turned Chennai into the SaaS capital of India. Under his leadership, Zoho Corporation, with brands like ManageEngine and Zoho, grew into a global technology powerhouse, serving over 130 million users across more than 150 countries, all without relying on external venture capital funding.

Dr Vembu has long championed the idea that true innovation comes from deep, sustained research rather than short-term scaling. His focus on research and development (R&D) has been central to Zoho’s success, with the company investing heavily in developing its own technology stack and building products completely in-house. Today, Zoho offers over 55 products that span across business functions from CRM, finance, HR, productivity and AI solutions, all built on its proprietary platforms. Earlier in 2025, he shifted his role from CEO to Chief Scientist to spend more time on R&D and long-term technology initiatives, such as AI.

A defining aspect of Dr Vembu’s philosophy is his vision for rural India. He believes that technological and economic opportunities should not be limited to metropolitan cities, and that India’s villages hold vast, untapped potential. Through Zoho’s rural development (RD) efforts, he has set up offices and R&D centres in villages and small towns like Tenkasi, Tharuvai, Kottarakara and Renigunta, enabling engineers to work on world-class technology without leaving their communities. In fact, Zoho opened its first rural office in Tenkasi in 2011 and developed and launched Zoho Desk from there in 2016. This RD through R&D model pushes for creating R&D hubs in rural areas.

Dr Vembu has been a strong proponent of developing deep-tech capabilities in India, especially for critical sectors like healthcare and defence. He has also invested in several companies that are aligned with the same mission of developing this sovereign tech. For his contributions, he was presented with the Padma Shri in 2021. He has previously served on the National Security Advisory Board. Dr Vembu’s leadership blends business success with social purpose, redefining what it means to build for both global markets and rural India.