Zoho today announced the launch of its proprietary large language model, Zia LLM, along with new AI tools such as Zia Agent Studio, over 25 pre-built AI agents, and a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server. The announcements were made during Zoholics Kenya, the company’s annual user conference held in Nairobi.
The company also revealed an impressive 39% year-over-year revenue growth in Kenya.
What was Announced
At the heart of the announcement is Zia LLM, Zoho’s in-house AI model built specifically for business use cases like summarization, data extraction, RAG (retrieval augmented generation), and code generation. The LLM comes in three optimized versions, 1.3B, 2.6B, and 7B parameter models. Each is selected based on task complexity and resource efficiency.
Some of the other launches announced are:
- Zia Agent Studio – A no-code/low-code builder that lets businesses create and deploy AI agents.
- Prebuilt AI agents – Tools like the Candidate Screener, Deal Analyser, and Revenue Growth Specialist are now available for instant use.
- Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) models for English and Hindi, with support for more languages coming soon.
- Model Context Protocol (MCP) server. This allows Zoho and third-party agents to access over 700 actions across 15+ Zoho apps securely.
These AI tools are integrated across Zoho’s ecosystem, including Zoho Desk, CRM Plus, and Zoho Analytics.
“Our LLM is designed with privacy and cost-efficiency at its core, allowing our customers to use powerful AI without compromising on governance or sending data to third parties,” said Premanand Velumani, Associate Director, Strategic Growth at Zoho MEA.
“Kenya remains a key market for us,” added Veerakumar Natarajan, Country Head for Zoho Kenya. “Our agentic approach makes AI more reliable and usable for businesses of all sizes.”
The launch of Zia LLM and related tools is a clear signal that Zoho is doubling down on AI while maintaining a strong stance on data privacy and user empowerment. Zoho’s in-house models keep customer data on its servers unlike most other clopud-based AI tools.
This also brings cost advantages, as the company can lower inference costs and pass those savings on to customers.
Zoho’s Growth in Kenya
Kenya is one of Zoho’s fastest-growing markets globally and ranks second in the Middle East and Africa region behind UAE. This is driven by a 25% CAGR over the past three years. Zoho’s partner network grew by 83% in 2024 while local hiring rose by 72%. This is quite impressive for a Saas company.
The Zoho One, Workplace, CRM Plus, CRM, Books, and Desk are the top performing product in Kenya. Adoption is particularly strong in sectors like financial services, ICT, retail, real estate, manufacturing, and professional services.
Zia LLM is currently being tested internally and will roll out to customers in phases. Zia Agent Marketplace allows businesses to deploy prebuilt agents immediately, with developer contributions coming soon.
How to Access Zia LLM and AI Tools
- Zia LLM: Rolling out to customers in the coming months
- Zia Agent Studio & Agents: Available via Zoho One and Zoho Desk
- Agent Marketplace: Live now within the Zoho ecosystem
- MCP Server (Early Access): Via Zoho Analytics and Zoho Flow
Also Read: How Zoho Is Quietly Powering Kenya’s Digital Transformation
