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, is live 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. We are building that here, at Ardvarq.
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
Our vision is for every student to have every university resource in their back pocket, fully personalized, 24/7.
Project Ardi
A student-facing academic assistant that surfaces the full value of a university.
Every university in America already has the course offerings, career development resources, and extracurricular opportunities to deliver a deeply personalized education to every student. Advisor caseloads, logistical complexity, and the fragmentation of those resources across departments make it nearly impossible for most students to build a worthwhile college career.
Ardi changes that. Built in conversation with students and advisors, Ardi takes in a student's academic history, capabilities, interests, and aspirations, and helps them build a course plan best suited to them. Advisors are freed from the transactional work and can focus on the students themselves.
About
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 to CU Boulder students in spring 2026. Over a 44-day pilot, more than 2,000 students used Ardi to plan their fall 2026 schedules.
We've been building Ardvarq full-time since December 2025, with guidance from operators who have built and led the companies that shaped this space. Our work is grounded in the belief that higher education needs to adapt to the age of AI, and that the students who have the most to gain from that adaptation are the ones the current system fails to support.
Partnership
Looking for the next universities ready to adapt.
For institutions with overloaded advisors and underutilized student programs.
If that's you, we would love to connect.
For other inquiries: brad@ardvarq.com, gavi@ardvarq.com.