AI Startup: Bengaluru innovators’ AI startup is revolutionizing grading in UK schools

An artificial intelligence (AI)-based startup founded by two Bengaluru-based innovators claims to be revolutionising teacher qualification in UK secondary schools. sanapticoCo-founded by fellow data scientists Dr Rajeshwari Iyer and Kavitha Ravindran as a side project, it has since raised nearly £1m from investors.

Their app, which uses natural language processing and machine learning to mark student responses and provide personalized feedback, is now in the process of raising another round of funding.

“Teachers can spend around one day a week grading and giving feedback on student work. Our app can accurately grade student responses and provide instant feedback so teachers can spend more time in the classroom,” Iyer, who studied for a PhD in Computational Neuroscience at Imperial College London, said in a statement this week.

“We’ve already seen the impact AI has had on other sectors and now there’s a huge opportunity for it to revolutionise education,” he said.

The co-founders, both in their 40s, estimate that the app could save teachers hundreds of hours a year spent marking, leaving them with more time for teaching. They have seen their innovative app rolled out to more than 50 secondary schools across the UK and is now attracting interest from schools and exam boards around the world.

sAInaptic recently participated in Venture Trek, an initiative led by Imperial Enterprise Lab to provide startups with much-needed international exposure to grow their businesses.

Ben Mumby-Croft, Director of Entrepreneurship at Imperial College London, said: “It’s always inspiring to see our alumni turn their vision into an exciting business that can have an impact on society. The Imperial Enterprise Lab has a successful track record of helping start-ups test new ideas and launch products, services and ventures that address real-world problems.”

As CEO of sAInaptic, Iyer, an Imperial College alumna, is an experienced research scientist with an MSc in Computational Biology from the University of Cambridge. She has over 12 years’ experience in computational modelling and data science, complemented by experience in software development.

Meanwhile, Ravindran, as Content Director, holds a PGCE in secondary science from the University of Cambridge, with over 12 years’ experience as a secondary science teacher and GCSE examiner. She is responsible for leading the development of sAInaptic content in line with the various curricula and leading the pedagogical aspects of the platform.

sAInaptic is a play on the word synapse, which is the junction between nerve cells that helps transfer information from one neuron to the next. The strength of the synaptic network in the human brain determines the consolidation of information from our short-term to long-term memory.

The co-founders explain that the platform is designed with ease of use in mind, meaning getting started is simple and quick, with a “user-friendly interface that makes navigating the system a pleasure.”

“Setting up the grading process takes just a few clicks and you’re good to go. Our AI handles most of the work, quickly and accurately grading hundreds of student responses in a matter of seconds,” they note.

sAInaptic is about to begin a new round of funding and launch its International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE), an English-language-based secondary qualification for students aged 14-16, offered to international schools and expanding into the vocational and certification sector.

Imperial College London says its Enterprise Lab supports more than 2,000 students each year with mentoring, access to experts and funding programmes. Start-ups supported by the Imperial Enterprise Lab are among the most successful in Europe, with a three-year survival rate of 72 per cent, according to the UK’s leading university.