By Deborah Acheampong

From taking apart his first phone just to see what was inside to co-founding an AI-powered tool that makes education more accessible and effective, Laksh Agarwal has always been driven by curiosity. Now a co-founder of Ednius, a startup using advanced AI to assist professors with grading and providing personalized, in-depth feedback to students, Laksh reflects on the experiences that shaped his journey and how his Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Computing Science at SFU fueled his entrepreneurial spirit.

"I have always been a curious person, fascinated by how things work," says Laksh. His fascination with technology started at an early age when he dismantled his first phone just to see its inner workings. That same curiosity led him into computing, where he discovered his passion for coding and problem-solving and has since been involved in the field.

“I love solving problems and building things that can make a difference", says Laksh.

At SFU, Laksh was involved in various challenging projects that allowed him to turn his passion into a promising career. “My journey at SFU has been incredible. I have learned so much, not only from the projects I worked on but also from the amazing people I met,” he reflects. 

Working as a research assistant at SFU Beedie pushed Laksh out of his comfort zone, preparing him for the uncertainties and challenges he would later face in his career. "I had to figure things out on the spot, which has been invaluable in my current work, where I am constantly exploring uncharted territories.”

Laksh is currently focused on expanding Ednius, the startup he co-founded while pursuing his undergraduate studies at SFU. Ednius is an AI-powered tool designed to intelligently assist professors in grading and providing detailed, personalized feedback to students.

“The inspiration for Ednius came from my own experience as a student, where I saw how slow feedback could hinder learning.”

The goal of Ednius is to make education more affordable and accessible by reducing grading costs and time, and helping students get quicker, more meaningful feedback to improve their learning outcomes. 

“It has been an exciting journey so far, and I am committed to expanding this solution to more institutions to enhance the learning experience for both educators and students.”

The journey to starting Ednius has not been without challenges. One of the biggest was making sure the technology could support the diverse types of assessments across different subjects while maintaining the high accuracy needed for grading. They tackled this by working with a variety of datasets across domains and using the latest models, along with fine-tuning the algorithms to improve precision.

"We collaborated with professors to understand their needs, and ran tests to refine the system, ensuring it could be trusted to handle a wide range of assessments and deliver reliable results.”  “It was critical to make sure the system could be trusted to deliver accurate, meaningful results”, Laksh shares.  

Since its launch, Ednius has accurately graded and provided feedback on tens of thousands of students' work and has been integrated into multiple courses across different universities. The AI-powered platform has features like personalized feedback and analytics to support both students and professors. Together with his team, Laksh continues to partner with more institutions to scale their impact, making education more accessible and helping students learn more effectively.  

The highlight of his time at SFU was his community of friends and the fun moments they shared together. Whether it was late-night soccer games, impromptu board game nights, celebrating over pizza and ice-cream, these moments made his university life memorable. "We would stay up all night, laugh about the most random things, and somehow turn the most stressful times into something enjoyable.” It was those friendships and little moments that truly made my time at SFU special. "The sense of community was as important to my journey as the technical skills I learned", he recounts.

For students starting their journey at SFU, Laksh has one key piece of advice: "Embrace curiosity and explore beyond the syllabus. Build connections with your peers and professors—those relationships can open doors to incredible opportunities and collaborations." And, also, “don’t take 8:30 AM classes—and don’t skip lectures!"

In his final words, Laksh says a thank you to everyone who has been part of his journey. "I am excited to keep pushing forward and seeing where the road leads next!”