Cadmus
Founded 2015 · 98 employees on LinkedIn · 7 known investors
Cadmus is a university-partnered assessment platform for higher education that supports secure exams, collaborative tasks, academic integrity insights, and assisted marking. Developed from a research partnership with the University of Melbourne, it helps students with scaffolded assessments while giving educators real-time analytics and simplified workflows.
Founders & leadership
Cadmus was founded in 2015 by Herk Kailis.
Investors · 7
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Cadmus provides higher education institutions with a single platform for designing, delivering, marking and analysing assessments, covering both online and on-campus delivery. Its product set comprises Cadmus Assignments (assignment creation and delivery with discipline-specific templates, integrated academic skills modules and real-time analytics), Cadmus Exams (digital exams with flexible question formats, question banks, locked browser functionality and real-time monitoring), Cadmus Group Work (group formation, shared tasks, feedback and performance insights), Cadmus Marking & Feedback (grading workflows, rubrics and automation), and Cadmus Learning Assurance Analytics (AI-usage expectations, authentic task design and engagement insights intended to support learning rather than solely detect misconduct).
The platform emphasises scaffolded, guided assessment: students receive structured task guidance, drafting support and progress visibility, while educators receive real-time analytics on student progression to enable timely intervention. Academic integrity features are positioned as non-invasive safeguards that surface insight into the learning and construction process, including detection-adjacent tools such as visualisation of hidden characters (for example zero-width spaces associated with copied or AI-generated text) and a generative AI declaration.
Cadmus integrates with institutional systems including Canvas, Moodle, Blackboard, D2L Brightspace, gradebook systems, and Grammarly, so that assessment delivery fits within existing LMS workflows.
Founding story
Cadmus originated from a research partnership with the University of Melbourne, initially created to address academic misconduct in higher education. Work with educators, researchers and students from 2018 led the company to conclude that students are less likely to cheat when they feel supported, shifting the mission from policing misconduct to prevention through support.
Business model
Business-to-business software sold to universities as an institution-wide assessment platform, with a demo-and-trial entry path advertised on the company website.
Traction
The company reports use by universities across multiple countries and cites institutional results including a 75% reduction in misconduct investigations and an 8.5% increase in student success rates in 2023, alongside a Nous Group analysis estimating a 7.1x weighted average return on investment for universities using Cadmus. Published case study work includes The University of Manchester.
Latest developments
Recent product releases include Oral Assessment (Viva) with hidden-prompt Video Response questions graded via Cadmus Marker rubrics, question-level time tracking in Multi-Format Assessment activity reports, footnotes and references in MFA extended answer questions, a hidden-character visualisation toggle in the editor, sections within group assessments, and group change requests with bulk marker assignment. Earlier 2025 releases included rubric-based marking, extensions sync via LMS, D2L Brightspace section syncing, a question library, contextual automarking, the renaming of Integrity Assurance to Learning Assurance, and a generative AI declaration.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
Positioned as a research-backed, university-partnered assessment platform used by institutions in multiple countries, differentiating on prevention of misconduct through supportive assessment design rather than surveillance or detection alone.
Cadmus emphasises scaffolded, guided assessment design and non-invasive integrity safeguards derived from insight into the student writing and construction process, rather than punitive detection; it consolidates assignments, exams, group work, marking and analytics in a single platform integrated with the institution's LMS.
Technology
A cloud assessment platform combining an authoring and submission editor, question banks and multiple question types (extended response, short answer, multiple choice, numerical, video response), secure exam delivery with access codes, backtracking controls, auto-submission and Respondus LockDown Browser support, rubric-based and automated marking, activity reports with question-level time tracking, and Learning Assurance Analytics that draw on real-time progress and writing-process data. LTI-style integrations connect to Canvas, Moodle, Blackboard and D2L Brightspace, including section syncing and LMS extension syncing.
Go-to-market
Cadmus sells institutionally to universities, supported by case studies (for example The University of Manchester), an independently modelled return-on-investment analysis, academic endorsements, and joint events such as a King's College London teaching and learning forum. The website offers demo bookings and free trials, and LMS integrations lower deployment friction within existing institutional workflows.
Universities and other higher education institutions, and within them educators and students; the platform is positioned for institution-wide deployment across faculties and for both coursework and high-stakes exams.
Geography
As of 2025 the company describes scaling its operations across the UK, EU, Middle East, US and Asia-Pacific, with named university customers including The University of Manchester and King's College London.
History
The company describes a timeline beginning in 2018 with research alongside educators, researchers and students into the causes of academic misconduct. Between 2019 and 2022 the platform was rebuilt to enhance the student learning experience as well as maintain integrity. By 2023 the company reported institutional outcomes including a 75% drop in misconduct investigations and an 8.5% rise in student success rates. In 2025 the company stated it was backed by global education technology investors and scaling across the UK, EU, Middle East, US and Asia-Pacific. Product releases have been documented continuously, including Canvas SpeedGrader integration (2021), equations (2022), Cadmus Exams and Respondus LockDown Browser support (2023), a new teacher environment (2023), Multi-Format Assessment and Cadmus Marker (2024), and further additions in 2025-2026 such as contextual automarking, a question library, rubric-based marking, and Oral Assessment (Viva) using hidden-prompt video response questions.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Competitors · 4
by search overlap
Companies competing with Cadmus for the same Google search keywords, organic and paid, via search-intersection analysis.
Timeline · 7
launches, deals, and filingsCadmus added an asynchronous Oral Assessment (Viva) format using a Video Response question type with hidden prompts, preparation timers, recording windows and rubric-based grading in the Cadmus gradebook.
Cadmus released contextual automarking and renamed its Integrity Assurance capability to Learning Assurance.
The company states that, backed by global education technology investors, it is scaling its operations across the UK, EU, Middle East, US and Asia-Pacific.
Cadmus introduced Multi-Format Assessment (MFA), with further feature updates released in June 2024.
Cadmus added Respondus LockDown Browser support for secure exam delivery.
Cadmus released its digital exams product in the Teacher and Student environments.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
In the news
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- Cadmuscadmus.io · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Cadmus do?
- Cadmus is a university-partnered platform for end-to-end higher education assessment: assignments, digital exams, group work, marking and analytics.
- Who founded Cadmus?
- Cadmus was founded by Herk Kailis in 2015.
- Who are Cadmus's investors?
- Cadmus's investors include Breakthrough Victoria, Cardinia Ventures, Emerge, Melbourne Accelerator Program (MAP), Emerge Education, Glitch Capital, SEEK Investments.