Covid-19 makes this Hyderabad start-up’s tool zoom into popularity

HYDERABAD: After the Ministry of Home Affairs warned that the widely-used video conferencing platform, Zoom, was not safe, schools and corporates are looking for new platforms to continue their operations. After the Covid-19 outbreak, more and more companies are relying on digital platforms.

A video-conferencing platform by a Hyderabad-based entrepreneur has seen an increase in users when classes for children are being conducted from home. The platform, Octa, is an offering of Radius Edutech, a company started by Mallika Valluru and Siddharth Malempati. She says: “We have seen an exponential rise in the number of users after Covid-19.

Our platform was initially built to deliver lectures from foreign instructors, or any lectures which could not be conducted on the spot. But right now, even regular classes are being conducted through it.”As many as 14 schools in Hyderabad are using her company’s digital solutions, says Mallika. In fact, the company is also training teachers on how to use the platform effectively.

Radius Edutech started as a company to cater to educational sector, but after the lockdown, we are seeing corporates asking for our products too as more and more employees work from home. Radius Edutech is a We-Hub (Women Entrepreneurs Hub) incubated start-up. It is India’s first and only state-led incubator to promote and foster women entrepreneurship. A former software engineer, Mallika co-founded the company in 2018.

— Kakoli Mukherjee  kakoli_mukherjee@newindianexpress.com  @KakoliMukherje2