Zoho Launches New Sub-Brand Vani To Offer Visual Collaboration Tools

Bootstrapped SaaS unicorn Zoho has launched a new sub-brand called Vani to offer AI-powered “visual” workplace collaboration tools. 

In a statement, the company said that Vani will support features such as whiteboards, flowcharts, diagrams, “mind mapping” and video calling. It allows teams to simultaneously integrate data from multiple sources, including desktop, drives and Excel sheets, as per their function. 

“Vani provides a comprehensive set of tools for all departments within one canvas, eliminating the need for app-switching, process building, or complicated onboarding, ensuring that SMBs can seamlessly ideate and execute across all departments,” Zoho’s head of product for Vani Karthikeyan Jambulingam said.

The new offering also boasts a new “Space and Zone” model, which allows individual teams to work in parallel, and collaborate as and when required. The platform also leverages AI to help clients generate content and structured visuals, and extract key insights from specific sections.

It also offers a library of pre-built templates and kits for planning, brainstorming, design diagrams and social media visuals to accelerate workflows.

Zoho has rolled out the new offering globally for a price tag of $5 per month for each user, while it is priced at INR 240 in India. There is also a free tier, which offers limited features and media uploads up to 25 MB. 

The SaaS giant reiterated that its AI-led offering will not retain customer information, and will not opt for ad or data monetisation. 

The new launch comes amid a resurgence of interest in domestic products. Recently, IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw publicly endorsed Zoho’s software suite for official government work.

Buoyed by the push, Zoho’s messaging platform Arattai, which was first soft-launched in 2021, clocked 10 Lakh+ downloads in the past week on Play Store. The platform caught the fancy of India’s tech-conscious users with its end-to-end encryption, support for multiple local languages, potential cross-platform messaging, zero ads and focus on data privacy. 

Notably, Vani is the latest offering from Zoho’s coffers in the past few months. In July, Zoho also rolled out its indigenously built AI suite, Zia LLM, offering agentic AI tools for specific business use cases. In the same month, the company also acquired robotics startup Asimov Robotics for an undisclosed amount to expand its R&D capabilities in the segment. 

Founded in 1996 by Sridhar Vembu and Tony Thomas, Zoho was initially known as AdventNet Inc. The company was rebranded to its current avatar in 2009. Zoho offers more than 50 integrated online applications that support multiple business operations spanning sales and marketing, finance, email and collaboration, app creation and analytics, among others. 

It earns revenue by selling its software and charging subscription fees to its customers across six continents. Besides India, the company has offices in the US, Singapore, the UAE and Japan. 

On the financial front, Zoho’s revenue crossed the $1 Bn mark in FY23. The unicorn clocked an operating revenue of INR 8,703.6 Cr during the year, up 30% from INR 6,710.7 Cr in FY22. The Chennai-based company’s net profit rose 3% to 2,836 Cr from INR 2,749 Cr in FY22. It is yet to release its FY24 and FY25 numbers.