USP - Universidade de São Paulo

What USP - Universidade de São Paulo does

USP - Universidade de São Paulo is a Brazilian public state university (autarquia) maintained by the State of São Paulo and affiliated with the State Secretariat of Economic, Scientific and Technological Development. Founded in 1901, it is the largest institution dedicated to higher education and research in Brazil, operating seven campuses across São Paulo state (São Paulo, Bauru, Lorena, Piracicaba, Pirassununga, Ribeirão Preto, and São Carlos) and serving 97,561 undergraduate and graduate students with 5,306 faculty members and 12,610 technical-administrative staff. All academic programs at undergraduate, master's, doctorate, specialization, and residency levels are provided free of charge to students.

The university's research portfolio spans the full breadth of academic disciplines, with 15,429 works indexed in Web of Science and 2,105 awards and distinctions received by faculty and staff. Core digital infrastructure includes the USP Digital platform, the App USP mobile application, the ABCD library system managing up to 60 libraries under a unified lending service via the Dedalus bibliographic database, the Portal de Revistas da USP journals portal, and the Portal de Livros Abertos USP open-access publishing platform. The institution also operates the Hospital das Clínicas complex, museums serving 1,217,382 visitors annually, and the InovaUSP innovation center for technology transfer.

USP's go-to-market is public-sector driven: undergraduate admissions flow through the FUVEST competitive entrance examination, graduate admissions through program-specific exams, and international mobility is facilitated through a cooperation office managing more than 1,000 international agreements. Revenue is generated through State of São Paulo government appropriations supplemented by research grants from FAPESP, CNPq, CAPES, and other federal and state funding agencies. The university participates in large international scientific collaborations, including the S-PLUS astronomical survey consortium, and uses AI-based classification for astronomical data with reported accuracy above 97%.

Name

USP - Universidade de São Paulo

Legal name

Universidade de São Paulo

Website

https://www5.usp.br

Company type

Public

Founded year

1901

Operating status

Operating

Short description

USP - Universidade de São Paulo is Brazil's largest public research university, maintained by the State of São Paulo. It serves 97,561 students tuition-free across seven campuses, with 5,306 faculty and 12,610 staff, and produces 15,429 Web of Science papers annually.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Higher Education

NAICS

Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (61131), Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (54171), Scientific Research and Development Services (5417)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Flagship Public Research Universities (R1/R2) (EDAHAAAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Public Research Universities with Academic Medical Centers (AMCs) (EDAHAAAC), Public Research Universities with National Laboratories/Big Science Facilities (EDAHAAAJ), Research Collaboration & Joint Labs (International Partnerships) (EDAIABAC)

Keywords

• Higher education services
• Public university research
• Academic degree programs
• Scientific research programs
• University hospital services

Headquarters

HQ city

São Paulo

HQ country

Brazil

HQ region

Latin America

Offices7 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Revenue model

1. Public Funding: State of São Paulo maintains the university through government appropriations. All undergraduate, master's, and doctorate programs are free of charge to students.
2. Research Grants: Funding from São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), and other government research agencies.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

USP is a public state university that provides tuition-free higher education and conducts scientific research across all major fields of knowledge. It delivers undergraduate, master's, doctorate, specialization, residency, and extension programs to 97,561 students across seven campuses in São Paulo state, while operating research institutes, university hospitals (including Hospital das Clínicas), 48 libraries, and cultural/museum facilities.

Product overview

USP - Universidade de São Paulo is a public university offering higher education services across multiple campuses. The institution operates a portfolio of digital products and services including USP Digital (central administrative/academic platform), the ABCD library system managing 60 libraries with unified lending via Dedalus, mobile applications (App USP), open access publishing portals (Portal de Revistas and Portal de Livros Abertos), statistical tools (Anuário Estatístico), and communication channels (Jornal da USP, Rádio USP, Canal USP). The university's digital infrastructure is managed by the Superintendência de Tecnologia da Informação (STI).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Undergraduate Programs (Graduação)
• Graduate Programs (Pós-graduação)
• Online Courses (Cursos on-line)
• Continuing Education / Extension Courses
• Hospital das Clínicas Healthcare Services
• Research Services

Quantifiable outcome

• 97,561 students enrolled across all programs
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• S-PLUS International ConsortiumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational astronomical survey project with over 100 scientists from Brazil, Argentina, Chile, USA, and Spain. Based at IAG-USP, led by Prof. Cláudia Mendes de Oliveira. Uses robotic telescope with 12 photometric filters mapping Southern Hemisphere sky.
• National Observatory (Brasil)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-founder of S-PLUS project alongside USP. Contributed researcher Roderik Overzier as project scientist.
• Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-founder of S-PLUS astronomical survey project.
• Federal University of Sergipe (UFS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-founder of S-PLUS astronomical survey project.
• University of La Serena (Chile)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-founder of S-PLUS astronomical survey project.
• Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational collaboration on quantum physics research. Prof. Júlio Larrea worked with EPFL labs for specific heat measurements under extreme conditions.
• University of AmsterdamcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational collaboration on quantum physics research through S. P. G. Crone and P. Corboz.
• University of York (UK)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on ultra-thin metalens technology development.
• Sun Yat-sen University (China)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on ultra-thin metalens technology development.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP): UNICAMP is Brazil's second major public research university and the most direct Brazilian competitor to USP. Both are São Paulo state-funded, free, multi-campus, research-intensive institutions with comparable faculty and graduate-program depth across STEM and health sciences.
• Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ): UFRJ is Brazil's largest federal public university and a direct comparable on scale, free tuition, multi-campus operations, and breadth of research output. It competes with USP for top graduate students, federal research funding, and Brazilian academic prestige.
• Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG): UFMG is a leading Brazilian federal public research university with comparable student scale (~50,000+), strong STEM and health sciences programs, and significant research output. It is one of USP's principal domestic peers for graduate talent and federal research grants.

Regional players

• Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM): UNAM is the flagship public research university in Mexico and the closest Latin American peer to USP in absolute scale, public funding model, breadth of disciplines, and international research standing. It operates in a different country but is structurally analogous.
• Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA): UBA is Argentina's flagship public university with free tuition and a research-intensive profile across all major fields. Comparable to USP in model and mission, it serves a different geography but is a structural peer for Latin American public-research benchmarks.

Broad incumbents

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT): MIT is a global benchmark for university research output, STEM graduate production, and big-science facilities. It is comparable to USP in scope of cross-disciplinary research (physics, biotech, materials) but operates under a private endowment model and a US/global talent market.
• Stanford University: Stanford is a global research university with comparable breadth of innovation output, technology-transfer mechanisms, and biomedical depth (relevant given USP's Hospital das Clínicas and InovaUSP). It serves as a benchmark for what a top-tier research-plus-innovation university achieves.
• University of Cambridge: Cambridge is a globally leading public-style research university with cross-disciplinary research output and international partnership intensity. Comparable to USP on multi-disciplinary research scale, though operating under a different governance and funding model.
• Tsinghua University: Tsinghua is a public flagship research university in China with a comparable role in producing advanced-degree holders, large-scale STEM research, and government-funded innovation. It is a structural international peer to USP as a state-supported research flagship.
• University of Tokyo: University of Tokyo is Japan's flagship public research university, with comparable scale of graduate output, big-science participation, and international research partnerships. It serves as a useful cross-country benchmark for USP's positioning.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/usponline
• YouTubeyoutube.com/canalusp
• Facebookfacebook.com/usponline
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/school/universidade-de-s-o-paulo
• Instagraminstagram.com/usp.oficial

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about USP - Universidade de São Paulo