The idea of an AI startup struck Preetha Prabhakaran, an engineer from Thrikkakara in Kerala’s Ernakulam, when she was working as a teacher. After her stints at different tech firms, Preetha joined the Government Model Engineering College, Thrikkakara as a guest faculty.
At the same time, she used to teach robotics to high school level students from the US and UAE on an online platform. The experience gave her the exposure to the opportunities those students were getting in advanced education, and also opened her eyes to the knowledge gap students in India were facing.
It was also the time when she heard about the CBSE introducing AI into pedagogy. Her interactions with some high school students in her apartment also exposed the lack of a practical approach in the curriculum.
Her attempts to find a solution to the problem paved the way for founding HelloAI, a startup offering a comprehensive and personalised learning experience for all age groups.
Preetha co-founded the startup along with her brother Prasad Prabhakaran and friend Edwin Jose and their product HelloAI-HAILabs.ai soft launched on August 15. They have been developing the product for the past one year.
The bootstrapped startup has won the productisation grant - Rs 12 lakh - from Kerala Startup Mission and the seed grant from Startup India - Rs 7 lakh.
HelloAI-HAILabs.ai has been developed on the principles of adaptive learning, personalised tutoring, engaging learning experience and data-driven insights.
At this stage, the company is aiming to create AI literacy among students and its plan is to expand the platform to a space which would help students learn any subject.
“We strongly believe in the idea of AI and data literacy. Children are exposed to and influenced by AI. Hence they should understand how the entire system works. More important is to create among them an awareness of its ethics, biases and privacy concerns,” Preetha explained to Onmanorama.
HelloAI-HAILabs.ai is being used by over 500 students on a pilot basis now. Once this phase is over, the company is planning to reach out to schools and engineering colleges. The company is also planning a global launch in the UK and the US. The company aims to generate its revenues from subscriptions.
The company has also won STEM and KidSafe certification and became a finalist in the Learning Tools Engineering Global Competition among 800+ startups.
The platform's content undergoes rigorous review by AI experts from esteemed institutions, including the University College of London, IIM Bangalore, and IIT Palakkad. It also partners with industry giants such as Microsoft, Walmart, Meta, and AWS, according to the management.
Team and vision
Prasad Prabhakaran, an IIMB alumnus who brings 25 years of digital product expertise from prominent companies like Microsoft and Samsung, is the company’s CEO. Preetha Prabhakaran, an AI robotics engineer with ties to Stanford Seed Spark, serves as the COO. Edwin Jose, the CTO, holds a degree in science and technology from Cochin University and is pursuing a PhD at Western Michigan University in the US.
"Every student should be data and AI literate. The dawn of AI solutions influencing even the minutest decisions is just around the corner. We need to prepare our kids to be responsible AI citizens of the future,” Prasad said.
Preetha said the company aspires to equip a million students with essential AI and data literacy skills by 2025.
(Startup Saturday is Onmanorama’s weekend series featuring promising startups from Kerala. Find the previous stories here.)
