# Pranab Krishnan

> Pranab Krishnan is co-founder and CTO. Zeal on Anchor Terminal, with grades, an about and public profiles.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/pranab-krishnan/
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/pranab-krishnan/index.md (~1,000 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/pranab-krishnan/index.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/pranab-krishnan/index.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-10-28

Co-founder and CTO.

Pranab Krishnan co-founded Zeal with Kirti Shenoy in 2019 and is its CTO. Zeal grew out of Puzzl, a gig staffing company, and makes an API that lets other platforms build and embed payroll. It went through Y Combinator's Summer 2019 batch.

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pranab-krishnan

## What Pranab builds

- [Zeal](https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/zeal.md), graded E, 45.7/100, in Payroll infrastructure. Zeal is an embedded payroll API for US staffing platforms, labour marketplaces and workforce software. Partners create employer companies, onboard W-2 employees and 1099 contractors, create pay cheques and contractor payments, preview payroll and pull reports. Co-founder and CTO, researched 2026-10-27.

## Works with

- [Kirti Shenoy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/kirti-shenoy/), Co-founder and CEO

## Backed by

- [Y Combinator](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/y-combinator/)
- [Spark Capital](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/spark-capital/)
- [Commerce Ventures](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/commerce-ventures/)
- [Jason Gardner](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/jason-gardner/)
- [Omri Dahan](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/omri-dahan/)
- [Vlad Tenev](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/vlad-tenev/)
- [Mitch Dauerman](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/mitch-dauerman/)
- [Bob Manne](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/bob-manne/)
- [Matt Straz](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/matt-straz/)

## Questions

### Who is Pranab Krishnan?

Pranab Krishnan co-founded Zeal with Kirti Shenoy in 2019 and is its CTO. Zeal grew out of Puzzl, a gig staffing company, and makes an API that lets other platforms build and embed payroll. It went through Y Combinator's Summer 2019 batch.

### What does Puzzl Group Inc. make?

Anchor Terminal lists Zeal from Puzzl Group Inc.. Zeal is an embedded payroll API for US staffing platforms, labour marketplaces and workforce software. Partners create employer companies, onboard W-2 employees and 1099 contractors, create pay cheques and contractor payments, preview payroll and pull reports.

### Who has invested in Puzzl Group Inc.?

The sources our research read name Y Combinator, Spark Capital, Commerce Ventures, Jason Gardner, Omri Dahan, Vlad Tenev, Mitch Dauerman, Bob Manne and Matt Straz.

### How are Pranab's tools graded?

Zeal is graded E, 45.7 out of 100, on Anchor Terminal's benchmark, which scores every listing against the same checklist.

## Sources

- https://www.zeal.com/about
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirti-shenoy-9501a8145
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/pranab-krishnan
- https://www.zeal.com/
- https://www.zeal.com
- https://support.zeal.com
- https://support.zeal.com/articles/3287642555-get-support

These are the people building the tools we list, named for their public role in the company or project behind a listing, from public pages, with the date it was researched. They don't work for Anchor Terminal (our own team is on the about page, /about/#author). We show public roles, public profiles and what the listing pages show, nothing private. To correct something, send an about or a photo, or have a page removed, write to privacy@anchorterminal.com.

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