The academic world is in a critical period.
Ardvarq is dedicated to helping higher education adapt to the age of AI.
Our first tool, Ardi, completed a 44-day pilot at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Our Philosophy
Universities are the most incredible resource hubs in the world. Most students never find what's inside.
College is a logistical maze where students have to build a life weaving together academics, extracurriculars, jobs, and a social life. A university is the most incredible resource hub in the world, filled with many resources most students never find. There are niche scholarships, unique courses, small study abroad programs, department events, and countless other opportunities, but most students lack either the motivation, awareness, or time to seek them out without a class announcement, email, or lucky sighting of a flyer. And even then, the inconvenience of having to independently research and plan deters most students from continuing.
Parents and academic advisors know these things but generally don't have the bandwidth to hold their students' hands the whole way.
This is the reason Ardvarq is worth something. We believe the incredible resources, laboriously built and maintained by universities, go vastly underutilized. There must be a way to aggregate personalized resources for every single student, regardless of socioeconomic status, personal identity, or field of study, based on individual interests, aspirations, capabilities, and needs. The first Ardi pilot tested one way to make that possible.
Academic advisors do some of the most important work on a college campus. The relationships, difficult conversations, and moments when a student needs another person to see them clearly are what make an advisor's job fulfilling and their role irreplaceable. Ardi was designed in conversation with advisors to help handle what is often the most transactional, arduous, impersonal component of their job: student scheduling and registration. If this is reliably taken care of, advisors can focus substantially more on the students themselves.
Higher education is being reshaped by the age of AI. The value of a degree is being questioned by students, employers, and the institutions themselves. Enrollment is contracting, programs are being cut, budgets are tightening, and the gap between what universities offer and what students actually use has never been wider.
Ardvarq helps close that gap. We build the academic intelligence layer that ensures every student, not just the ones who already know how to navigate the system, pulls real value from their education. The resources you've built are used, the advisors you've hired are freed to do the work only they can do, the students you admit graduate from an education built around them.
A more valuable education for every student, designed to work alongside the systems you've already invested in.
We are against predictive risk scoring, and our goal is to always expand the student's choice space.
The vision
Every student should have every university resource in their back pocket, fully personalized, 24/7.
Project Ardi
44-day pilot at CU Boulder.
- 2,000+
- CU students used Ardvarq
- 903
- tracked conversations
What students wanted from a planning conversation.
Ardi gave students one place to bring their academic history, interests, and constraints into a planning conversation.
In real use, their priorities were practical: improve their grades, balance demanding semesters with easier classes, and find courses they would genuinely care about and enjoy.
Project Ardi is now closed at CU Boulder.
Email us about the projectAbout
Built by students who lived the problem.
Ardvarq was started by Brad Banner and Gavi Fox at the University of Colorado Boulder. We met as undergraduates, identified the problem that inspired Ardvarq while still in school, and shipped the first version of Ardi in spring 2026.
Our work is grounded in the belief that higher education needs to adapt to the age of AI, and that the students with the most to gain from that adaptation are often the ones the current system struggles to support.
Partnership
Looking for institutions ready to test carefully.
For institutions thinking seriously about student support in the age of AI.
If that's you, we would love to compare notes.
For other inquiries: brad@ardvarq.com, gavi@ardvarq.com.