EduGrade AI, an educator-led artificial intelligence platform developed at Queen Mary University of London, has been accepted into the Google for Startups Cloud Program and awarded $25,000 in Google Cloud credits over two years.

The platform helps educators produce rubric-aligned assessment feedback and indicative grades while keeping academic judgement and final decisions firmly with the marker.

Created by Dr Deepshikha of Queen Mary's School of Engineering and Materials Science, EduGrade AI responds to the rising assessment workload in higher education. It drafts personalised feedback against an academic marking rubric, which the educator then reviews, edits and approves before it reaches students.

The credits give the team access to cloud computing, data processing and AI development tools. That infrastructure will support work on the grading and feedback engine, strengthen scalability and open the way to integrations with institutional learning management systems. The programme also brings technical training, online courses, hands-on labs, dedicated startup support and membership of the Google Cloud Startup Community.

Dr Deepshikha said:

Acceptance into the Google for Startups Cloud Program is an important milestone for EduGrade AI. These credits let us strengthen the platform's technical infrastructure and build a solution that scales across disciplines and institutions.

"We are not replacing educator judgement. We are returning time to academics, so they can focus on meaningful engagement with students, curriculum development and high-value teaching. It matters to us that this support helps keep responsible AI and educator control at the core of the platform."

The team will use the Google for Startups support to develop the platform further, strengthen its institutional integration capabilities and prepare for wider adoption across the higher education sector.