Zoho Corporation's messaging software, Arattai, is making waves in the tech industry. Over the last three days, the app's sign-ups have increased 100 times, and it is now being seen as a possible rival to Meta's WhatsApp in India.
Arattai, an Indian-made platform, markets itself as a spyware-proof way to communicate with both professionals and loved ones. While the company is naturally overjoyed, Sridhar Vembu, the man who designed both Zoho and Arattai, is equally ecstatic about the app's unexpected success.
Concept behind Zoho
The guiding concepts of Zoho and its most recent product, Arattai, were established by Sridhar Vembu, a well-known figure in Silicon Valley, and his unusual journey from Silicon Valley engineer to rural Tamil Nadu resident.
Who is Sridhar Vembu?
Vembu was born in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, in 1968 into a middle-class family. After earning a B.Tech in Electrical Engineering from IIT Madras in 1989, he went on to Princeton University to earn a PhD in 1994.
Sridhar Vembu Career
Following graduation, Vembu started working as a Systems Design Engineer at Qualcomm, where he specialized in wireless technologies. However, Vembu decided to return to India, not to Bengaluru, Hyderabad, or Delhi, but to a little village in Tenkasi, Tamil Nadu, instead of taking the usual route of going back to a tech hub. His thinking now revolves around this unconventional choice, which at the time caused some astonishment. Vembu thinks that talented people in villages who are frequently disregarded by the established system can create world-class technology, which doesn't have to come from metropolises or towns.
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The Beginning of Zoho
Vembu founded AdventNet in 1996 with the goal of creating an Indian software product company that would serve a worldwide clientele. AdventNet changed over the course of 20 years to become Zoho Corporation, a significant supplier of cloud-based business solutions. By 2016, the company employed over 3,000 people and had introduced more than 50 cloud products that were used in more than 180 nations.
Sridhar Vembu’s Atypical Journey
But Zoho's development has been anything but typical. Vembu built the business wholly out of its own profits and has continuously refused outside funding. Zoho has distinguished itself as a successful, bootstrapped company that reports to no outside shareholders in a market dominated by venture-funded unicorns. Because of its independence, the business is now able to prioritize long-term effects over immediate profits.
One noteworthy initiative is Zoho University, which was founded in 2004 and is currently known as Zoho Schools of Learning. Vembu developed a way to teach software development and coding to young people from low-income backgrounds rather than only hiring from prestigious universities. Numerous program grads currently work with Zoho as core employees, contributing to products that are utilized by millions of people globally.
Over 100 million people use Zoho worldwide today, and the company has a sizable workforce outside of conventional urban areas.
Launch of Arattai App
In 2021, Zoho released the messaging app Arattai, which was in line with Vembu's goal of creating Indian substitutes for multinational IT giants. In Tamil, the name Arattai means "casual chat." The software, which started off as a side project, just shot to the top of India's download rankings. Group chats, phone and video conversations, stories, and broadcast channels are just a few of the well-known features that Arattai provides. However, it pledges to put privacy first and refrain from making money off of personal information.
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