A
Academia.edu
Accelerates the world's research with an open platform of academic works freely accessible to anyone
About Academia.edu
Academia.edu is a digital platform designed for academics to share their research papers and connect with other researchers. Founded by Richard Price, the company emerged from his experience as a PhD student at Oxford, where he identified the need for a simple way to create a homepage and upload academic papers. The platform primarily serves academics, researchers, professionals, and students who are interested in accessing and disseminating scholarly work.
Read full description
Operating in the academic and research market, Academia.edu has grown to host over 55 million papers and attracts 103 million users every month. The platform allows users to upload their research, share it with a global audience, and track the impact of their work through robust analytics. This helps researchers gain visibility and measure the influence of their contributions to their respective fields.
Academia.edu's business model is based on a freemium approach. While basic services such as uploading papers and accessing research are free, the company generates revenue through premium subscriptions. These subscriptions offer advanced features like enhanced analytics, the ability to see who is reading your work, and access to additional research tools. This model allows Academia.edu to cater to both casual users and those who require more in-depth services.
In summary, Academia.edu is a vital resource for the academic community, providing a platform for sharing research, discovering new studies, and tracking the impact of scholarly work. It operates on a freemium model, making money through premium subscriptions that offer advanced features.
At a glance
- Status
- Operational
- Founded
- 2008
- Headquarters
- San Francisco, United States
- Employees
- 290
- Open positions
- 1
- Dealroom signal
- 63.8/100
- Industry
- Education
- Sub-industry
- Learning Tools and Resources
- Sector
- Edtech, Analytics, Freemium, Higher Education
- Business model
- Marketplace & ecommerce
- Client focus
- b2c
- Investment activity
- 1 company, latest Oct 2013
- Capital deployed
- —
- Preferred round
- ACQUISITION
Latest news
Press, funding announcements and product moves mentioning Academia.edu.
Funding history
Company financing events and reported valuations.
| Deal type | Date | Amount | Valuation | Investors | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SECONDARYOther financing | Aug 2023 | $0 | — | Five Sigma | — |
| SERIES DOther financing | Feb 2022 | $23M | $92M | Khosla Ventures · True Ventures · Spark Capital · Tencent | ↗ |
Financials
Revenue, earnings and other financial measures where available. Years marked “E” are estimates.
Growth signals
Latest recorded traffic for Academia.edu is 25M monthly website visits, down 32.4% over the last three months. Academia.edu's team declined 17.4% over the past year.
Open positions
Similar companies
Company identity and context are open; selected comparison metrics preview what is available on the platform.
| Company | Headquarters | Status | Employees | Total funding | Valuation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DreamBox LearningOnline math learning plaftorm |
Bellevue, United States | Acquired | 88 | $173M | $520M |
 QuivrA free application that centralizes useful information for students |
Leuven, Belgium | Operational | |||
 greyt.meFeedback platform for creatives by creatives |
Berlin, Germany | Operational | |||
 GraspleGrasple - Open STEM Practice and Assessment Platform |
Amsterdam, Netherlands | Operational | |||
 InstructureLearning technology software provider |
Cottonwood Heights, United States | Acquired | |||
 LearnosityThe leader in AI for assessment |
Dublin, Ireland | Acquired | |||
 ThinglinkAn award winning technology solution for creating engaging, accessible, and interactive media |
New York City, United States | Operational | |||
 NxusBias-free career & community platform for educational institutions |
Amsterdam, Netherlands | Operational |
Investments and acquisitions
Recent portfolio relationships for companies that also act as investors or acquirers.
Investors
From Dealroom's funding and investor records, grouped by the round each investor first entered.
Seed2 investors entered at this stage
LocalGlobe- SPSPARK
Series A3 investors entered at this stage
Series B and later2 investors entered at this stage
Tencent
Five Sigma
Source: Dealroom Talent Intelligence.
Global footprint
team presence
Market sentiment
An AI-synthesised read of the highest-engagement posts about Academia.edu on X, ranked by likes and reposts, corporate channels excluded.
Reading the room on X — pulling top posts and synthesizing themes…
Source: X recent search ranked by engagement (likes + retweets) · Synthesis by Claude · Cached for 1 hour
See Academia.edu’s full profile on Dealroom
Request a free trial to see the complete deal history, financials, people graph and growth signals.
Takes under a minute. Already use Dealroom? Log in.