Sridhar Vembu personally hunts for math talent as Zoho Mail nears $100 million milestone

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Zoho founder and CEO Sridhar Vembu has taken a hands-on approach to hiring as his company’s email service, Zoho Mail, inches closer to a major milestone — $100 million in annual revenue. What makes this even more impressive is that over 70 per cent of the business now comes from outside India.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Vembu announced that he’s personally on the lookout for people with a strong mathematical background to join Zoho’s expanding technical teams. “A lot of my own tech work is devoted to figuring out the technical pathway here. We need strong mathematical talent. If you are not intimidated by equations, please ping me!” he wrote.

Vembu’s post came alongside an update on Zoho Mail’s latest performance metrics, which show the platform performing among the world’s best secure email services. According to results from Virus Bulletin’s VBSpam certification, Zoho Mail achieved a score of 99.329, with malware detection at 97.47 per cent and phishing detection at 99.87 per cent — all while maintaining zero false positives.

“Zoho Mail is approaching $100 million annual revenue, over 70% from outside India. Below is the objective score on our anti-spam system from the reputed global benchmark Virus Bulletin. We continue to perfect it with our R&D effort. We will make our customers happy, and by making our global customers happy, we also make our nation proud,” Vembu added.

What sets Zoho Mail apart is its privacy-first model. Unlike ad-supported email services, Zoho doesn’t monetize user data or show ads. This approach has made it a popular choice for users and businesses looking for privacy-focused, reliable communication tools. Continuous R&D efforts have also helped — the platform now offers enhanced spam filters, image annotation, alias delegation, and better integration with Zoho Workplace apps for productivity and collaboration.

Interestingly, Zoho Mail’s adoption has also grown within government circles. Several officials, including Home Minister Amit Shah, have reportedly started using the service. The Indian government’s push for Made in India digital solutions has further strengthened Zoho’s position.

With its privacy-driven approach, world-class performance, and growing global footprint, Zoho Mail’s success story reflects not just a company scaling new heights, but also the rise of Indian technology on the world stage — and Vembu is ensuring he finds the right minds to take it even further.