Founded during the pandemic, Hyderabad-based QualiZeal is expanding its presence with over 850 employees and a growing global footprint
QualiZeal, a quality engineering and software testing firm headquartered in Irving, Texas, with operations in Hyderabad, was founded in late 2021 by Kalyan Konda and six others amid the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The company has since grown to a team of over 850 professionals across its Global Capacity Centres in India, and is now aiming to expand into new markets including Canada, Europe, and the Middle East.
Konda, who began his career as a software tester in 1998, worked at firms such as Virtusa, AppLabs, and Cigniti before co-founding QualiZeal. With over two decades of experience in software quality and client management, he brought deep domain expertise to the new venture. Most of the co-founders came from non-entrepreneurial backgrounds and pooled their professional experience rather than financial capital to start the company.
Early growth rooted in ‘shift-left’ strategy
The firm’s approach to software quality focuses on the “shift-left” methodology, which involves integrating quality assurance earlier in the software development lifecycle rather than at the end. This model is increasingly being adopted by global enterprises aiming to reduce errors and improve time-to-market.
QualiZeal operates in a competitive sector, but has positioned itself around continuous automation and AI-led testing. It has also been expanding its client base among Fortune 500 companies by offering services tailored to mission-critical systems, according to the company.
Artificial Intelligence and workforce expansion
As part of its roadmap, the company is investing in AI-driven tools for autonomous testing. It plans to implement what it calls a “4×4” growth strategy by 2028—aimed at quadrupling revenue and headcount while entering new geographies.
QualiZeal is also among the tech firms focusing on workplace diversity, with initiatives for return-to-work programmes and gender representation in roles across AI, cloud, and cybersecurity. Konda has stated that the future of software quality engineering lies not only in automation but also in augmenting human skills to meet enterprise demands in a rapidly evolving tech environment.