WriteATest Wins Startup Challenge – Aims to Stop Cheating in Digital Exams

The win includes SEK 25,000 in funding from Skill, along with business development support from the Innovatum Science Park incubator and University West’s innovation office.

“Digital exams are often marketed as secure, but in practice they can be easy to bypass. This risks disadvantaging students who actually study. We want to ensure that grades reflect a student’s knowledge, not how good someone is at finding shortcuts,” says Christian Stolev, founder of WriteATest.

The idea for WriteATest emerged when Christian began investigating how secure the digital exam systems used in schools actually are. With a background in software security, he analyzed existing solutions and discovered that several cheating methods were already publicly available online.

“I started wondering whether the software used in digital exams was really secure enough to handle things like national exams. When I analyzed the systems, I found that the security did not match the level being marketed,” says Christian Stolev.

WriteATest is a digital examination platform where schools can create, distribute, and grade exams online. During the exam, the student’s computer is locked into a controlled environment, preventing internet searches, access to other programs, or use of hidden aids.

The team has already developed several core components of the platform, including a website, backend system, and a custom exam browser. The next step is to integrate the browser with the locked exam environment and prepare the product for pilot testing with schools and municipalities.

“The win means a great deal to us. It confirms that the problem we are trying to solve is real and that our solution has potential. Equally important is the support and network through Innovatum and University West, which can open doors that would otherwise take much longer to reach. The prize money will primarily be used to establish the company,” says Christian Stolev.

Startup Challenge is organized by Innovatum Science Park in collaboration with University West and Skill. This year, 34 business ideas were submitted. Six were selected as finalists and pitched to the jury. The judging criteria included market need, level of innovation, feasibility, sustainability, and scalability.

“There has been a high standard of business ideas and great potential among the participants. WriteATest stands out by addressing a clear and growing need in the education sector, with a technically strong solution and a well-defined target group. It is an idea with tangible value and strong potential for further development,” says Christian Andersson-Gran from Skill, a prize partner in the competition.

The jury consisted of Markus Sulkupuro and Pavel Calderon from Innovatum Science Park’s incubator, Christian Andersson-Gran from Skill, and Nigel Blanken and Fredrik Christensson from University West.