Open Badge Factory
Open Badge Factory is a Finnish SaaS platform that enables organizations to create, issue, and manage verifiable digital credentials under the Open Badges 3.0 standard, serving primarily higher education institutions and corporate training programs through tiered subscriptions and LMS integrations.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2019
- HeadquartersOulu, Finland
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Open Badge Factory does
Open Badge Factory Oy is a Finnish private limited company headquartered in Oulu that operates a cloud-based SaaS platform for creating, issuing, and managing Open Badges compliant with the IMS Global / 1EdTech Open Badges 3.0 standard. The platform enables organizations to design digital credentials, perform bulk issuance via CSV or email, manage badge applications and endorsements, and connect issuance to learning pathways through features such as milestone badges and metagroups. The technology stack includes a REST API v2 with OpenAPI documentation and OAuth2 authentication, LTI 1.3 integration with major LMS platforms (Moodle, Canvas, Blackboard, Brightspace, Itslearning, Totara, Priima), and Zapier no-code automation. OBF holds 1EdTech certification and is GDPR-compliant.
The commercial model is a tiered annual subscription (Basic limited to 10 badges, Premium with unlimited badges, Pro with full features including API, LTI, PDF badge certificates, and Moodle plugin) sold primarily through self-serve onboarding with a 60-day free trial at the Pro level, supplemented by channel partnerships with LMS vendors and an implementation partner network built over 10 years. Customer segments are led by higher education (University of Westminster, UNICollaboration, OAMK, AEFE), with secondary presence in corporate employer credentialing, government upskilling programmes, and partner networks. The free companion service Open Badge Passport serves as a consumer-facing wallet and ecosystem platform, available on web and mobile, with white-label options.
Revenue is generated through annual SaaS subscriptions paid via the Paytrail payment service provider; pricing is not publicly disclosed. Product velocity is visible through a steady launch cadence across 2025-2026, including Open Badge 3.0 implementation, Metagroups, CASE/ESCO competency framework alignment, Japanese localization, and underage user support. The company operates with 1-10 employees under CEO Eric Rousselle, with no disclosed external funding, parent entity, or institutional investors.
Open Badge Factory firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Open Badge Factory
- Legal name
- Open Badge Factory Oy
- Website
- https://openbadgefactory.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2019
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Open Badge Factory is a Finnish SaaS platform that enables organizations to create, issue, and manage verifiable digital credentials under the Open Badges 3.0 standard, serving primarily higher education institutions and corporate training programs through tiered subscriptions and LMS integrations.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where Open Badge Factory is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Oulu
- HQ country
- Finland
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Open Badge Factory business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Subscription Licensing: SaaS subscription model with three service tiers (Basic, Premium, Pro). Subscriptions are annual with minimum one-year commitment. Subscriptions do not auto-renew. The 60-day free trial allows evaluation before purchase.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | Basic tier for small badge needs (up to 10 badges) |
| Subscription | Annual | Premium tier for unlimited badges with strategy implementation tools |
| Subscription | Annual | Pro tier with full power features, reporting, PDF badges, and LMS integration |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels7 records
Open Badge Factory product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Open Badge Factory develops and operates a cloud-based SaaS platform that enables organizations to create, issue, manage, and verify digital Open Badges in accordance with the Open Badges 3.0 standard. The platform is complemented by Open Badge Passport, a companion wallet service for badge earners, and by a public REST API for developers and integrators.
Product overview
Open Badge Factory operates as a cloud-based platform for creating, issuing, and managing digital credentials using the Open Badges standard (now Open Badge 3.0). The core product is Open Badge Factory itself, complemented by the free companion service Open Badge Passport — a badge wallet and ecosystem management platform available on web and mobile. The portfolio also includes PDF Badges (verifiable certificates with Open Badge metadata) and micro-portfolios that extend static badges into dynamic credential portfolios. OBF Academy provides educational content through webinars and tutorials. The platform offers tiered subscription plans (Basic/10-badge limit, Premium/unlimited badges, Pro/full features including API and LTI). Advanced users can integrate via a REST API (v2, OpenAPI), LTI 1.3, or official plugins for Moodle, Itslearning, and Priima LMS, as well as Zapier no-code automation.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Open Badge Passport: Free online platform and mobile application where badge earners can receive and store their badges safely, share them, and apply for new badges advertised by hundreds of organisations.
Products and services
- Open Badge Factory Cloud-based SaaS platform that enables organizations to create, issue, manage, and verify digital Open Badges following the Open Badges 3.0 standard. Offered as a tiered subscription (Basic, Premium, Pro) with a free tier, a 60-day Pro free trial, and self-serve sign-up. Target users are higher education institutions, employers, public-sector programs, and partner organizations that need to issue verifiable digital credentials.
- Open Badge Passport Companion wallet service for individuals who have earned Open Badges, enabling them to collect, organize, and share badges and to evolve them into dynamic micro-portfolios. Designed as the badge-earner-facing counterpart to the Open Badge Factory issuer platform.
- Open Badge Factory API v2 Public REST API v2, documented with OpenAPI, that exposes the Open Badge Factory platform to developers, integrators, and partner organizations. Supports OAuth2-based access and is positioned for building custom integrations and partner solutions.
- OBF Academy Free training and education service provided by Open Badge Factory that helps organizations and individuals learn how to use the platform to design, issue, and manage Open Badges. Acts as an enablement resource for customers and prospects rather than a paid offering.
Quantifiable outcome
- 45% reduction in credential fraud through blockchain verification (industry-wide figure reported by platform vendors)
Companies that use Open Badge Factory
Customer profileNamed customers4 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Open Badge Factory technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration8 records
AI capability2 records
Feature12 records
Open Badge Factory partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- MoodlecoreOpen Badge Factory develops and maintains the official local_obf plugin for Moodle LMS, enabling badge issuance based on course completion, activity completion, and profile completion. The plugin also supports Totara LMS and can connect multiple OBF accounts to a single Moodle instance.
- Saarni LearningminorFinnish educational technology partner that developed the Priima LMS integration for Open Badge Factory. Provides implementation support and technical assistance for the Priima integration.
- ZapiercoreZapier integration enables automated Open Badge issuance triggered by events in thousands of applications including LearnDash, Google Forms, TalentLMS, Notion, and SAP SuccessFactors. Requires OBF Pro license.
- Canvas LMScoreCanvas LMS supports LTI 1.3 integration with Open Badge Factory, enabling badge issuance, badge application management, and issuance history within Canvas courses. Part of advanced LTI integration available at Pro level.
- BlackboardcoreBlackboard Learn supports LTI 1.3 integration with Open Badge Factory for badge issuance, application review, and issuance history management within Blackboard courses.
- BrightspacecoreBrightspace LMS supports LTI 1.3 integration with Open Badge Factory for badge issuance, application review, and issuance history management within Brightspace courses.
- Paytrail OyjminorPaytrail Oyj acts as the implementer of payment handling and Payment Service Provider for Open Badge Factory subscriptions. Located in Jyväskylä, Finland. Paytrail Oyj is an authorised Payment Institution.
- IMS Global / 1EdTech ConsortiumcoreOpen Badge Factory is built on Open Badges standards developed and maintained by the IMS Global Learning Consortium (1EdTech). OBF holds 1EdTech certification, demonstrating compliance with Open Badges and LTI interoperability standards.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Open Badge Factory competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Credly: Credly is the largest digital credentialing platform, originally independent and now part of Pearson and partnered with Accenture. It issues and verifies digital badges using the same Open Badges standards as OBF and competes head-to-head for the same higher education, corporate L&D, and workforce customers.
- Accredible: Accredible is a leading digital credentialing platform serving higher education, associations, and EdTech companies. It offers similar badge issuance, verification, and analytics capabilities as OBF and targets the same LMS-integrated credentialing use cases.
- Canvas Credentials (formerly Badgr): Canvas Credentials is Instructure's standalone badge and credentialing product, evolved from Badgr. It is natively integrated into Canvas LMS, giving Instructure distribution advantages in the same higher-education segment OBF serves via its Canvas LTI integration.
- Parchment: Parchment, owned by Instructure, is a credential and transcript management platform used widely by higher education institutions. It overlaps with OBF in digital credential issuance, verification, and learner records, and bundles credentialing with transcripts and diplomas.
- Sertifier: Sertifier is a digital credentialing SaaS platform focused on creating, issuing, and managing digital badges and certificates for education and corporate training. It competes directly with OBF for SMB and mid-market badge programs with similar LMS integration and analytics features.
- Hyland Credentials (formerly Learning Machine): Hyland Credentials provides blockchain-anchored digital credentialing and wallet infrastructure for education, government, and enterprise issuers. It overlaps with OBF's verifiable credential offerings, particularly for institutions needing tamper-evident digital records.
Broad incumbents
- Microsoft Learn / Microsoft Credentials: Microsoft's learning and credentials ecosystem issues digital badges and micro-credentials integrated with LinkedIn. It is a broad incumbent in the credentialing space, leveraging LinkedIn's distribution to compete for the same professional recognition use cases OBF addresses.
- IBM Skills Network: IBM Skills Network issues digital credentials and badges for technology and professional learning through its broad learning platform. It is a larger incumbent in the credentialing space with deep employer recognition, overlapping with OBF's IT/certification-adjacent use cases.
- Coursera: Coursera issues shareable certificates and credentials across thousands of courses and professional certificates. While a broader online learning platform, its employer- and institution-facing credentialing capabilities overlap with OBF's higher education and corporate recognition use cases.
Others
- Open LMS: Open LMS (a subsidiary of Workplace Intelligence) provides Moodle-based learning platforms to enterprises and education institutions. As an LMS partner ecosystem player, it is comparable to OBF because OBF's Moodle plugin is a key integration surface that Open LMS customers could adopt.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Open Badge Factory social profiles
Digital presenceOpen Badge Factory compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance2 records
Open Badge Factory financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Open Badge Factory leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Open Badge Factory funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Open Badge Factory 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 Open Badge Factory
What does Open Badge Factory do?
Open Badge Factory develops and operates a cloud-based SaaS platform that enables organizations to create, issue, manage, and verify digital Open Badges in accordance with the Open Badges 3.0 standard. The platform is complemented by Open Badge Passport, a companion wallet service for badge earners, and by a public REST API for developers and integrators.
Is Open Badge Factory a public or private company?
Open Badge Factory is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Open Badge Factory founded?
Open Badge Factory was founded in 2019. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Open Badge Factory based?
Open Badge Factory is headquartered in Oulu, Finland, in the Europe region.
How does Open Badge Factory make money?
One revenue line is on record: subscription Licensing.
Who are Open Badge Factory's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Credly, Accredible, Canvas Credentials (formerly Badgr), Parchment, Sertifier and Hyland Credentials (formerly Learning Machine). Broad incumbents are Microsoft Learn / Microsoft Credentials, IBM Skills Network and Coursera. Open LMS is listed as an others.
Does Open Badge Factory have an API?
Yes. Open Badge Factory offers a REST API (v2) with OpenAPI documentation that enables developers to build custom integrations with OBF for issuing and managing Open Badges. Authentication uses OAuth2. The API is available to Pro level subscribers. Pro level subscription is required for API access. Developer documentation is at openbadgefactory.com/obf-api-v2.