Zoho Buys Kochi Robotics Startup Asimov and Opens a Deep-Tech R&D Campus in Small-Town Kerala

A quiet acquisition, announced from a small town

Zoho Corporation, the Chennai-headquartered software company behind the Zoho and ManageEngine suites, has acquired Asimov Robotics, a deep-tech startup based in Kochi, Kerala. The deal was announced on 2 July 2026 at the inauguration of Zoho's new research-and-development campus in Kottarakkara, a small town in Kerala's Kollam district.

The acquisition fits a pattern that Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu has pushed for years: building high-end engineering capacity outside India's crowded metros, in smaller towns, and keeping talent rooted close to home. Announcing a robotics buyout from Kottarakkara rather than Bengaluru is very much the point.

Who Asimov Robotics is

Founded in 2012 by Jayakrishnan T, Asimov Robotics builds robotic systems for hazardous and repetitive industrial tasks. The company drew national attention during the COVID-19 pandemic, when it deployed humanoid and service robots to help with reception, sanitisation and contact-free assistance in public spaces — an early, visible demonstration of Indian-built service robotics.

Under the deal, Asimov's founder and team are joining Zoho and will continue to operate from the new Kottarakkara campus, folding their robotics know-how into Zoho's broader research effort.

The Kottarakkara campus

The R&D campus that Zoho inaugurated alongside the acquisition can accommodate up to 250 employees and will initially concentrate on artificial intelligence and robotics. Zoho opened its first, smaller office in Kottarakkara in 2024; the new facility is a significant expansion of that footprint and signals that the company intends to treat robotics as a long-term research bet rather than a one-off purchase.

Why a software company wants a robotics team

Zoho is best known for cloud business software, but it has been investing heavily in deep tech — from its own semiconductor ambitions to AI models — as it tries to build capability rather than buy it off the shelf. Robotics is a natural adjacency: it marries the company's software and AI work with physical automation, and it gives Zoho an in-house team that understands hardware, control systems and real-world deployment.

For India's robotics ecosystem, the acquisition is a notable signal. Home-grown robotics startups have often struggled to find patient capital and industrial customers at scale. A well-funded, profitable Indian software company absorbing a robotics team — and committing to grow it from a small town — offers one template for how that talent can stay in the country and keep building.

The bigger bet

The move also underlines a broader shift in how Indian technology companies are approaching deep tech: less reliance on imported systems, more willingness to acquire and nurture domestic engineering teams. Whether Zoho turns Asimov's capabilities into shipping products — industrial automation, service robots, or something adjacent to its enterprise software — will take time to judge. But the combination of a real robotics team, a dedicated campus and a founder committed to decentralised R&D makes this more than a symbolic purchase.

Sources

• Zoho Corp expands R&D with new campus in Kottarakkara, Kerala, and acquires start-up Asimov Robotics — The Tribune
• Zoho Acquires Asimov Robotics — Entrepreneur India
• Zoho Corp acquires Asimov Robotics, expands R&D footprint with new Kerala campus — YourStory