Two East Texas A&M University alumni, Prashidda Thapa and Shradda Khadka, are the founders of the Bhasa App, an English-learning platform serving immigrant communities whose native languages are often overlooked by major language-learning apps. The founders' work gained momentum through the University of Arlington's Maverick Business Pitch Competition (MavPitch).

This competition is designed to help aspiring entrepreneurs refine and showcase their business ideas in a friendly and encouraging environment. Since launching Bhasha in 2025, the platform has grown to more than 70,000 users across 130 countries and earned two first-place victories at MavPitch, totaling $40,000 in prize funds. They plan to reinvest their prize funding to enhance Bhasha's AI-powered language-learning tools, expand speaking and role-play features, and add new languages.

Thapa and Khadka both graduated from East Texas A&M with their Master of Science in Business Analytics in 2024. They credit their education with providing them the foundation for Bhasa's growth through coursework focused on technology, problem-solving and data-driven decision-making. It taught them how to take an idea, understand a real problem and turn it into something practical that can make an impact.

Winning MavPitch was meaningful to them because it validated the problem they are solving by creating their app. Today, Bhasha supports 11 languages and helps users build confidence through lessons and speaking exercises focused on everyday situations. According to the founders, users have shared stories of how the role-play and AI interview features have helped them practice real-life conversations and gain confidence in their English skills.

“For me, Bhasha is about more than learning English,” Thapa said. “It is about giving people the confidence to speak up, connect with others, and create new opportunities for themselves. Seeing our learners become more confident in their everyday lives is the most rewarding part of what we do.”

Khadka said their app's success goes beyond user growth and emphasizes how immigrant communities can confidently learn English through Bhasha.

“We started Bhasha because we saw how many immigrants were being left behind by traditional language-learning platforms,” Khadka said. “What excites me most is seeing something we built for our own community grow into a platform that can help people from many different backgrounds feel more confident, independent and connected in their everyday lives.”