A University of Leeds alum has secured £260,000 funding to propel their AI study assistant business.
Dragos Popa, who studied a BSc Computer Science at the University of Leeds, co-founded Plato during his third year with help from SPARK, the University’s business start-up support service.
Plato is an embedded, governed AI study assistant that integrates directly within module materials. The AI is embedded within programmes at universities to answer academic queries within the module. This enables more personal support, aligned to the course content, for students.
The AI assistant also helps institutions gain structed analytics on usage, engagement and learning behaviour, giving them unique insight and understanding to student queries within modules.
If it wasn’t for SPARK, we wouldn’t have been based here in Leeds.
Dragos moved to the UK from Romania in 2012, where at school he met his now co-founder, Nikita Dumitriuc. The head of year at the school inspired him to consider University.
“It was not in my mind before. I really liked Leeds as a city and the University,” said Dragos.
“I’ve always had entrepreneurial drive, I wanted to create something for myself and always enjoyed building things, which is why I chose to do computer science here at Leeds.
“I was on the lookout for incubators and accelerators, and I started doing projects in my first couple of years here at Leeds, with SPARK. Although they weren’t successful, SPARK really helped support me and understand that failure is a part of the process.”
Whilst studying at Leeds, Dragos saw large language AI models becoming more popular and he started to develop a prototype for the business which he pitched to staff in the School of Computing.
At the Digital Universities UK conference 2024 held in Exeter, the business secured a pilot with the University of Sussex. Plato has since gone from strength to strength with a trial at the University of Liverpool which received good feedback.
Dragos said: “The SPARK team really helped our business during this time with office space at Nexus, advice and mentorship.
“Being an enterprise scholar in my first year and the financial support from the grants Plato received, have got us this far. The business is now in a place to raise finance because of SPARK.
“If it wasn’t for SPARK, we wouldn’t have been based here in Leeds.”
Brian Baillie, Head of Business Start-Up at SPARK, University of Leeds, added: “The Spark team is extremely proud of the dedication Dragos and Nikita have invested in Plato, and it’s fantastic to see their hard work beginning to pay off.
“They are outstanding entrepreneurs to have within our incubator, inspiring the earlier‑stage businesses joining our community. We’re excited to see where their journey leads next.”
The funding from SFC Capital will help to further develop analytics and reporting capabilities within the tool app, alongside strengthening governance, compliance and customisation features.
Ed Stevenson, Principal at SFC Capital, said: “We’re excited to back Plato as they address one of the most important challenges in higher education today: ensuring students receive timely, effective academic support at scale.
“As universities explore how to integrate AI into teaching and learning, there is a clear need for solutions that enhance the student experience while giving institutions appropriate oversight and insight. We believe this combination of improved student experience and strong institutional oversight positions Plato as an important part of the future of higher education.”
Further information
For more information, please contact Rebecca Hurrey at r.hurrey@leeds.ac.uk, in the University of Leeds press office.
Picture Credit: Plato.
For more information about working with Plato, please visit Plato.ac.