Zoho builds on 40% YoY small business customer growth by expanding toolkit for SMBs

New capabilities announced across Zoho solutions helping businesses prioritize growth and agility

Zoho's Cape Town office. The Indian tech unicorn is rapidly growing it's staff contingent and customer base in South Africa. (Zoho/X).

Zoho Corporation, a global technology company, has reported a 40% year-over-year increase in customer growth from small businesses worldwide during the first half of 2025. The milestone underscores the strength of Zoho’s broad and integrated product ecosystem, designed to provide scalable, affordable, and contextual tools that meet the critical technology needs of SMBs. To build on this momentum, the company is introducing new capabilities across its SMB portfolio aimed at improving productivity, optimizing revenue, and streamlining operations, enabling businesses to focus on future growth.

According to Raju Vegesna, Zoho’s Global Chief Evangelist, small businesses face constant pressure to remain agile and deliver high performance despite limited resources, while also adapting quickly to shifting market conditions. “For more than three decades, we’ve focused on bringing enterprise-grade technology to small businesses at consumer price points. Our role as a partner is to help future-proof these organizations through a wide range of tools and continuous innovation,” he said.

The latest updates span six key solutions: Bigin by Zoho CRM, Zoho Commerce, Zoho Solo, Zoho Contracts, Zoho Start, and Zoho Notebook. Bigin, first launched in 2020 to help small business owners manage customers and sales, now includes booking management, integrations with QuickBooks Online, Shopify, and over ten payment gateways such as Stripe and PayPal. The platform introduces AI-powered features on mobile apps, automated lead capture from major social platforms, and new applications for iOS and Apple Watch.

In the commerce segment, Zoho Commerce has been enhanced to support the sale of digital products alongside physical goods, loyalty programs, and tools to reduce revenue loss from cart abandonment. The platform also introduces new store templates, native iOS and Android apps, social selling capabilities through channels like WhatsApp, and features tailored for B2B and wholesale operations.

For independent professionals, Zoho Solo brings together client management, financial tracking, invoicing, task management, and reporting in a single mobile-first application optimized for tablets. The solution now supports timesheets, reminders, financial reports, and mileage tracking, with upcoming features including multi-currency support, inventory management, and AI-driven insights.

Meanwhile, Zoho Contracts strengthens contract lifecycle management with a built-in AI assistant, deeper integrations with Zoho CRM, enhanced e-signature options, multi-organization support, and compatibility with ChatGPT. Zoho Start expands its availability across all 50 U.S. states and Washington D.C., offering entrepreneurs a simple and affordable way to legally register an LLC, obtain an EIN, and even secure a domain and business phone number.

On the productivity front, Zoho Notebook continues to evolve as a central workspace for teams and projects. Leveraging Zia, Zoho’s in-house AI engine, Notebook now offers automatic audio transcription, AI-generated mind maps, writing assistance, smart tags, and voice-based search and translation. With integrations across Zoho’s broader ecosystem, the app consolidates documentation and collaboration in a single platform.

Through these enhancements, Zoho reinforces its long-standing commitment to making advanced technology accessible for small businesses, helping them not only keep pace with digital transformation but also unlock sustainable growth and long-term opportunity.