Trailblazers in Edtech: Chaks Appalabattula
The Tech Edvocate is pleased to produce its “Trailblazers of Edtech” series. This series profiles the top edtech influencers in the world. To create this series, The Tech Edvocate editorial team exhaustively researched the movers and shakers of edtech. To frame our methodology, we decided to define the term “edtech influencer” broadly. In this series, you will find administrators, bloggers, journalists, policymakers, researchers, innovators, businessmen, activists, etc. who are transforming the edtech space as we know it.
The influencers that we chose are all active in the area of edtech, doing something influential in edtech, well-known throughout the edtech landscape, and making an impact globally. We are excited to witness how these influencers continue to change the world this year, and we are anxious to see who will stand on the shoulders of these giants, and as a result, become a part of this series. In this installment of “Trailblazers in Edtech,” we will profile Chaks Appalbattula, CEO of Bloomz, Inc.
Founder & CEO of Bloomz, Inc.
What His Current Focus Is: Chaks is focused on creating a fun, easy-to-use parent-teacher communication tool for a new generation of social media and mobile-savvy parents who have children in schools, child cares and activities. Today’s parents are used to connecting and communicating through their smartphones and are fluent in the language of photos, likes, comments, and direct messages. With Bloomz, Chaks has created a mobile app with a familiar social media interface that encourages parents to participate in their child’s learning and connect to their teacher and community through a secure platform.
How He’s Transforming the EdTech Space: Chaks has helped bring the fast growing Bloomz to over 14,000 schools across the nation by combining a social networking interface with a comprehensive set of tools, from messaging and media sharing, to calendar, signups, and student behavior tracking—all at no cost. He aims at disrupting the parental engagement for the new generation.
What His Background Is: Before creating Bloomz, Chaks applied his computer science and engineering education at companies such as Microsoft, AskMe, and most recently as the vice president of product and partnerships at GlobalScholar, where he focused on building an end-to-end learning platform to connect teachers, students, and administrators. He founded Bloomz, Inc. in January 2014 and serves as the Founder and CEO.
What May Surprise You About Him: A parent of two school-aged children, Chaks created Bloomz after he and his wife both fell ill and had communication difficulties with their teachers and school community.
Twitter: @achaks
Email: Chaks@bloomz.com
