Perusall
Perusall is a social learning platform for higher education that enables collaborative annotation of text, video, and audio course materials with ML-based automated grading and LTI 1.3 LMS integration, serving 95,000+ instructors across 6,000+ institutions in 117 countries.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2015
- HeadquartersAustin, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Perusall does
Perusall is a privately held social learning platform founded in 2015 following a four-year Harvard University research project. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, the platform enables collaborative annotation of text, video, and audio course materials among higher-education students and instructors, with adoption reported at 6,000+ educational institutions, 95,000+ instructors, and 6 million+ students across 117 countries. The company is bootstrapped and owner-operated by its four co-founders (Gary King, Brian Lukoff, Eric Mazur, and Kelly Miller), all Harvard-affiliated academics, alongside a CEO (Gretchen Brevnov) and a small team of fewer than ten employees.
The platform's core technology combines machine learning-based automated engagement scoring across five languages (English, Spanish, Dutch, French, Italian), generative AI features for discussion prompts and dynamic student feedback, and NLP-driven confusion analytics. It supports multimodal content (ebooks, videos, podcasts, web pages) and integrates via LTI 1.3 with all major LMS platforms (Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle, D2L/Brightspace, Sakai), with gradebook and roster synchronization. Compliance posture includes SOC 2 Type 2, FERPA, GDPR, PIPEDA, and WCAG 2.2 A & AA, plus annual penetration testing and 1EdTech TrustEd App certification.
Perusall generates revenue through three streams: institutional licenses (annual subscriptions for enterprise-wide deployment), book-adoption transactions on a 1.4M+ title catalog sourced from 54,000+ publishers including Penguin Random House, Pearson, McGraw Hill, Macmillan, and Wiley, and optional course choice platform access fees set by instructors. LMS integrations are provided free of charge to all institutions, and the go-to-market motion is community-led, anchored on word-of-mouth referrals, the Perusall Exchange annual conference, Perusall Academy training series, and the PerusHall educator community.
Perusall firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Perusall
- Legal name
- Perusall
- Website
- https://perusall.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2015
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Perusall is a social learning platform for higher education that enables collaborative annotation of text, video, and audio course materials with ML-based automated grading and LTI 1.3 LMS integration, serving 95,000+ instructors across 6,000+ institutions in 117 countries.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Perusall industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Educational Technology / Social Learning Platforms
- NAICS
- Educational Support Services (611710), Software Publishers (5132)
- SIC
- Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Online Learning Content & Course Publishing Platforms (BPAMAJAL)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Core Digital Curriculum & Courseware (Full Programs & Units) (EDAFACAA), Assessments, Quizzes & Learning Analytics Tools (MPACALAK), Digital Learning & Course Subscriptions (CRAFAIAD)
Keywords
Where Perusall is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Austin
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Perusall business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure, Supply Chain
Revenue model
- Book Adoption Revenue: Publishers support Perusall when access to books are purchased directly from the Perusall catalog or through campus bookstores. Students adopt ebooks from the catalog of over 1.4 million titles from 54,000+ publishers.
- Institutional Licenses: Institutions support Perusall when purchasing a license. LMS integrations are provided free of charge to all institutions. Institutions receive customized informational packets specific to their LMS.
- Course Choice Platform Access Fee: Instructors and students support Perusall when students pay to access courses. Instructors have full agency to decide the price for students. Available to instructors using free materials at institutions without a license. Departments may also purchase bulk access for students.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | Institutional License - Full platform access for educational institutions |
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Book Adoption - Free access bundled with purchased course materials |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Course Choice - Optional student access fee for free materials |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels10 records
Perusall product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Perusall provides a social learning platform that lets students collaboratively annotate text, video, and audio course materials, with automatic ML-based grading (up to 7 criteria), confusion reporting, generative AI discussion prompts, peer review workflows, and LTI 1.3–certified integration with major learning management systems. The platform is delivered to educational institutions via annual licenses and to individual instructors and students via self-serve signup and an optional Course Choice access fee, with an integrated ebook catalog of 1.4M+ titles from 54,000+ publishers.
Product overview
Perusall is a social learning platform designed to prepare every student for every class through authentic engagement and collaboration with course content. The platform comprises the core Perusall social learning platform with integrated feature modules for course content management (ebook catalog with 1.4+ million titles), student collaboration tools, assessment and analytics with automated ML-based scoring, LMS integration (LTI-certified with all major learning management systems), and peer review assignments. The ecosystem extends to support services including Perusall Academy (instructor training), Perusall Exchange (annual conference and content library), Perusall Engage (author book events), PerusHall community, and the Social Learning Amplified podcast. The platform is built by educators for educators, has no investors, and does not sell user data.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Perusall Social Learning Platform A cloud-based social learning platform that lets students and instructors collaboratively annotate text, video, and audio course materials; includes automated ML-based engagement grading (up to 7 criteria), confusion reports, generative AI discussion prompts, peer review, and LTI 1.3 LMS integration. Delivered to institutions via annual licenses and to individuals via self-serve signup.
- Perusall Book Catalog Digital catalog of more than 1.4 million ebook titles from 54,000+ publishers (Penguin Random House, Pearson, McGraw Hill, Macmillan, Wiley, Cambridge University Press, Hachette, OpenStax, etc.), distributed to students via Perusall and partner campus bookstores.
- Institutional License Annual enterprise license granting full platform access to an educational institution; includes LMS-customized onboarding packets and free LMS integrations.
- Course Choice Platform Access Optional per-student access fee that lets instructors using free/OER materials monetize access to their course on Perusall, with department bulk-purchase available.
Quantifiable outcome
- >90% of students complete assigned reading (vs 20-30% typical)
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Perusall
Customer profileNamed customers10 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Perusall technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration10 records
AI capability8 records
Feature8 records
Perusall partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
14 partnerships are on record, tiered core and strategic.
- Penguin Random HousecorePublisher partner providing ebook content for Perusall catalog. Students can adopt ebooks directly from the Perusall catalog or through campus bookstores.
- PearsoncorePublisher partner providing textbook and academic content for Perusall catalog.
- McGraw HillcorePublisher partner providing professional and academic content for Perusall catalog.
- Macmillan LearningcorePublisher partner providing academic content for Perusall catalog.
- WileycorePublisher partner providing academic and research content for Perusall catalog.
- OpenStaxcoreOpen educational resources partner providing free, openly licensed educational content through Perusall.
- Blackboard LearncoreLMS integration partner with deep LTI 1.3 support for single sign-on, gradebook sync, roster sync, and deep linking.
- Canvas by InstructurecoreLMS integration partner with LTI 1.3 support for seamless course integration and grade synchronization.
- MoodlecoreOpen source LMS integration partner with LTI support for Perusall course embedding.
- SakaicoreOpen source LMS integration partner with LTI support for Perusall course integration.
- D2L/BrightspacecoreLMS integration partner with LTI 1.3 support for gradebook sync and roster synchronization.
- 1EdTech (formerly IMS Global)strategicStandards body that certifies Perusall for LTI 1.3 (LTI Advantage Complete suite) and LTI 1.0/1.1 compliance. Also certifies Perusall as a TrustEd App.
- Cambridge University PresscorePublisher partner providing academic content for Perusall catalog.
- Hachette Book GroupcorePublisher partner providing book content for Perusall catalog.
Scale indicators9 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Perusall competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Packback: Packback provides AI-moderated asynchronous discussion platforms for higher education, focused on building critical thinking through peer engagement. It is a direct competitor in the social/discussion augmentation space that Perusall occupies.
- Yellowdig: Yellowdig is a community-based learning platform for higher education that emphasizes peer discussion and engagement around course content. It competes with Perusall for the same instructor-led, community-driven engagement layer inside LMS environments.
- InScribe: InScribe is a higher-education community platform providing moderated discussion and peer connection tools for online learners. It targets similar instructor-led, community-driven engagement workflows as Perusall.
- Hypothesis: Hypothesis is the leading open-source social annotation platform operating in academic and publishing contexts. It is the most direct competitor to Perusall's annotation engine, offering collaborative markup of webpages, PDFs, and documents, and was historically used by some institutions that Perusall now serves.
Broad incumbents
- Top Hat: Top Hat is an established higher-ed engagement platform offering interactive textbooks, homework, and in-class polling. It overlaps with Perusall in the pre-class reading engagement and interactive courseware layer and competes for institutional textbook budgets.
- D2L Brightspace: D2L Brightspace is a major LMS with built-in discussion and group collaboration. Like Canvas, it competes indirectly with Perusall by offering native engagement features that some institutions may view as a substitute for a third-party platform.
- Canvas (Instructure): Canvas is a leading LMS with native discussion, annotation, and collaboration features. It does not specialize in social annotation but competes indirectly because institutions may substitute basic LMS features for Perusall's deeper collaboration layer.
Others
- OpenStax (Rice University): OpenStax is a free OER textbook provider from Rice University and is a content partner of Perusall. It is comparable as an alternative low-cost course content source that shapes how institutions think about courseware purchasing decisions where Perusall participates.
- Knewton (Wiley): Knewton is an adaptive learning infrastructure provider acquired by Wiley, providing personalization and analytics for digital courseware. It is comparable as an adjacent technology layer in the digital courseware and analytics market where Perusall operates.
Emerging players
- NotebookLM (Google): NotebookLM is Google's AI notebook tool that generates summaries and answers from uploaded documents. As an emerging AI-native study tool, it represents a potential substitute for pre-class comprehension workflows that Perusall's collaborative reading aims to solve.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat7 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Perusall social profiles
Digital presencePerusall compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance9 records
Perusall financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Perusall leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles8 records
Perusall funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Perusall M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Perusall
What does Perusall do?
Perusall provides a social learning platform that lets students collaboratively annotate text, video, and audio course materials, with automatic ML-based grading (up to 7 criteria), confusion reporting, generative AI discussion prompts, peer review workflows, and LTI 1.3–certified integration with major learning management systems. The platform is delivered to educational institutions via annual licenses and to individual instructors and students via self-serve signup and an optional Course Choice access fee, with an integrated ebook catalog of 1.4M+ titles from 54,000+ publishers.
Is Perusall a public or private company?
Perusall is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Perusall founded?
Perusall was founded in 2015. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Perusall based?
Perusall is headquartered in Austin, United States, in the North America region.
How does Perusall make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Book Adoption Revenue is the primary driver. The others are institutional Licenses and course Choice Platform Access Fee.
Who are Perusall's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Packback, Yellowdig, InScribe and Hypothesis. Broad incumbents are Top Hat, D2L Brightspace and Canvas (Instructure). Others are OpenStax (Rice University) and Knewton (Wiley). NotebookLM (Google) is listed as an emerging player.
Does Perusall have an API?
No public API is recorded for Perusall.
What industry is Perusall in?
Perusall's product category is Educational Technology / Social Learning Platforms. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAMAJAL, Online Learning Content & Course Publishing Platforms, with a secondary code of EDAFACAA, Core Digital Curriculum & Courseware (Full Programs & Units). Its NAICS code is 611710 and its SIC code is 8200.