NumFOCUS
NumFOCUS is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that provides fiscal sponsorship, funding, and operational support to 80+ open-source scientific computing projects, including NumPy, pandas, Jupyter, and scikit-learn, serving researchers, enterprises, and government agencies globally.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2012
- HeadquartersAustin, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What NumFOCUS does
NumFOCUS, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity headquartered in Austin, Texas that serves as a fiscal sponsor and operational backbone for the open-source scientific computing ecosystem. Founded in 2012, the organization provides financial administration, legal support, trademark stewardship, and community programs for 80+ sponsored and affiliated projects spanning data science, numerical computing, machine learning, scientific simulation, and visualization. Flagship projects under its umbrella include NumPy, pandas, Jupyter, Matplotlib, Julia, SciPy, and scikit-learn, whose tools are used by organizations ranging from NASA and Netflix to Bloomberg and Two Sigma.
The organization's product surface is programmatic rather than commercial. Core programs include the Sponsored Projects Program, Fiscal Sponsorship services, Small Development Grants ($800K disbursed over the prior three years), the PyData global event and education program, a Diversity & Inclusion initiative, Google Summer of Code participation, and a Jobs Board. NumFOCUS does not sell proprietary software and does not license its underlying technology; instead it channels resources to its sponsored projects, which totaled $13M in disbursements, $10.25M in managed grants, and $109K in legal support over the prior three years.
NumFOCUS operates a community-led go-to-market through open-source distribution (PyPI, conda-forge, GitHub), PyData/SciPy/JuliaCon events, a newsletter, and a Medium blog, while monetizing through tiered corporate and institutional memberships ($10K–$100K annually), corporate event sponsorships, individual donations via the Open Science Champions program, and grants from foundations including the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. With 1–10 employees and leadership under President Andy Terrel and CFO/COO Michael Savelli, the entity runs a lean nonprofit operating model on a global footprint.
NumFOCUS firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- NumFOCUS
- Legal name
- NumFOCUS, Inc.
- Website
- https://numfocus.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2012
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- NumFOCUS is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that provides fiscal sponsorship, funding, and operational support to 80+ open-source scientific computing projects, including NumPy, pandas, Jupyter, and scikit-learn, serving researchers, enterprises, and government agencies globally.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
NumFOCUS industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Open Source Scientific Computing Foundation Services
- NAICS
- Scientific Research and Development Services (5417)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- STEM & Maker Education (Makerspaces, Coding Clubs, Robotics) (EDAAAFAL)
Keywords
Where NumFOCUS is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Austin
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
NumFOCUS business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Others, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D
Revenue model
- Corporate Sponsorships: Corporate sponsors provide financial support at various tiers (Principal, Sustaining, Contributing) to support open source scientific computing projects and gain engagement with the community.
- Institutional Memberships: Academic institutions, research labs, and government agencies pay membership fees ranging from $10,000 to $100,000 annually for engagement opportunities and project support.
- Individual Donations: Individual donors contribute through the Open Science Champions program at various tiers (Open Foundations up to $250, Open Pathways $250-$499, Open Opportunities $500-$999, Open Insights $1,000-$2,499, Open Innovations $2,500-$4,999, Open Frontiers $5,000+).
- Foundation Grants: Support from foundations such as Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation for specific programs and initiatives.
- Project Designations: Donations restricted to specific sponsored projects as designated by donors.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | Academic/Research Lab/Government Membership - $10,000 level |
| Subscription | Annual | Academic/Research Lab/Government Membership - $20,000 level |
| Subscription | Annual | Corporate Membership - $25,000 level |
| Subscription | Annual | Corporate Membership - $50,000 level |
| Subscription | Annual | Corporate Membership - $100,000 level |
| Subscription | Annual | Event Accelerator Package - $30,000 |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels6 records
NumFOCUS product offering
Product offeringCore offering
NumFOCUS provides fiscal sponsorship, funding, legal protection, trademark management, and community infrastructure for over 80 open source scientific computing projects including NumPy, pandas, Jupyter, Matplotlib, Julia, and scikit-learn. The organization also operates educational and community programs (PyData events, Small Development Grants, Google Summer of Code, Diversity & Inclusion initiatives) and a Jobs Board for the open source scientific computing community.
Product overview
NumFOCUS is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that serves as a fiscal sponsor and support hub for open-source scientific computing projects. Rather than a single commercial product, NumFOCUS offers a portfolio of programs including fiscal sponsorship services, the PyData educational event program, Small Development Grants, Diversity & Inclusion initiatives, and Google Summer of Code participation. The organization supports a diverse ecosystem of over 40+ sponsored and affiliated open-source projects spanning data science, scientific computing, machine learning, and visualization—including foundational tools like NumPy, pandas, Jupyter, Matplotlib, Julia, scikit-learn, and many others. These projects form the core open-source stack used by researchers, scientists, and companies worldwide, from Netflix to NASA. NumFOCUS does not sell commercial software products; instead, it provides administrative, financial, and community support services to sustain and promote open-source scientific computing.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- NumFOCUS Sponsored Projects Program A fiscal sponsorship and support program providing funding, legal support, trademark management, and community resources to maintain and develop sponsored open source scientific computing projects such as NumPy, pandas, Jupyter, Matplotlib, Julia, and dozens of others.
- Fiscal Sponsorship Service Administrative and financial services for open source projects, including handling donations, grants, and legal matters on behalf of project communities.
- PyData A global community of users and developers of Python-based data science tools, organizing conferences, meetups, and educational events to promote open source scientific computing.
- Small Development Grants Funding program providing grants to accelerate the growth and development of sponsored open source scientific computing projects.
- NumFOCUS Jobs Board Online platform connecting open source developers with positions at companies and organizations within the NumFOCUS ecosystem.
- Google Summer of Code Participation Program connecting students with open source projects for paid internship opportunities to contribute to sponsored projects during summer breaks.
- Diversity & Inclusion Program Initiatives to foster diversity and inclusion within the NumFOCUS ecosystem and open source scientific computing community.
- Corporate and Institutional Membership Program Annual subscription membership tiers for academic, research, government, and corporate supporters, providing engagement benefits such as Advisory Council seats, speaking opportunities, project summits, and event tickets.
Quantifiable outcome
- Over $13 million dispersed in project allocations for development, maintenance, and community management
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use NumFOCUS
Customer profileNamed customers12 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
NumFOCUS technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
NumFOCUS partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- BloombergcoreBloomberg is a Principal Corporate Sponsor of NumFOCUS. Bloomberg connects influential decision makers to a dynamic network of information, and uses open source technologies including Jupyter for data science, machine learning, and quantitative research. Their developers contribute to Apache Solr/Lucene, Apache Hadoop, and OpenStack.
- AnacondacoreAnaconda is a Principal Corporate Sponsor with more than 25 million users worldwide. They pioneered the use of Python for data science and continue to steward open-source projects that make tomorrow's innovations possible.
- T. Rowe PricecoreT. Rowe Price is a Principal Corporate Sponsor and independent investment management firm focused on helping clients meet their objectives and achieve long-term financial goals.
- Posit (formerly RStudio)corePosit Software, PBC is a Principal Corporate Sponsor that helps people understand and improve the world through data. They build tools for robust and reproducible data analysis, with core software that is open source.
- MicrosoftcoreMicrosoft is a Sustaining Corporate Sponsor. Thousands of Microsoft engineers use, contribute to, and release open source every day. They recognize NumFOCUS projects for data science workloads and support the ecosystem.
- Two SigmacoreTwo Sigma is a Sustaining Corporate Sponsor and passionate about giving back to the programming community. They use open source software as the bedrock of all their proprietary technology and support NumFOCUS projects pandas and Jupyter.
- GooglecoreGoogle is a Sustaining Corporate Sponsor that believes open source is good for everyone and enables collaboration and development of technology.
- NVIDIAcoreNVIDIA is a Sustaining Corporate Sponsor. Their invention of the GPU revolutionized parallel computing and they continue to support the scientific computing ecosystem.
- Qube Research & Technologies (QRT)minorQRT is a Sustaining Corporate Sponsor and global quantitative and systematic investment manager operating in all liquid asset classes. They implement a scientific approach to investing.
- Holocene AdvisorsminorHolocene Advisors is a Sustaining Corporate Sponsor. Open source software is the bedrock of their proprietary technology from systematic trading to investment research.
- IMCminorIMC is a Contributing Corporate Sponsor and one of the world's leading market makers, providing liquidity in more than 200,000 securities across more than 100 venues globally.
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
NumFOCUS competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Eclipse Foundation: Nonprofit that provides fiscal sponsorship, IP management, and working group infrastructure for open source projects. Comparable because it runs a similar membership-and-events model supporting developer communities.
- OpenJS Foundation: Open source foundation under the Linux Foundation supporting JavaScript and web projects with corporate sponsorships. Comparable because it uses the same tiered corporate-membership and event-sponsorship model.
- Python Software Foundation: Nonprofit that holds IP and funds development for the Python language and PyCon. Comparable because it fiscally stewards the language ecosystem that many NumFOCUS-sponsored projects (NumPy, pandas, Jupyter, scikit-learn) are built on.
- Free Software Foundation: Nonprofit dedicated to free software advocacy and supporting GNU projects via donations and memberships. Comparable in nonprofit open source support model, though focused more on licensing/philosophy than scientific computing.
- Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF): Sub-foundation of the Linux Foundation supporting cloud-native open source projects with corporate membership and event programs. Comparable because it follows the same fiscal-sponsorship model but for a different developer vertical.
- Linux Foundation: Largest open source foundation, providing fiscal sponsorship, legal support, and event infrastructure to member projects. Comparable because it operates an identical fiscal-sponsorship-and-corporate-membership model that NumFOCUS uses for scientific computing.
- Apache Software Foundation: 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor and legal home for open source projects, with a similar model of accepting donations and providing infrastructure to project communities. Comparable because it is the canonical open source foundation providing fiscal sponsorship and governance for widely used projects.
Broad incumbents
- Wikimedia Foundation: Large 501(c)(3) that fiscally stewards Wikipedia and sister open knowledge projects via donations and grants. Comparable in nonprofit fiscal-sponsorship model, though with a much larger budget and consumer-facing mission.
- Mozilla Foundation: Larger nonprofit that funds open source projects and advocates for an open internet. Comparable in nonprofit open source funding model, though broader in mission and with much greater resources.
Emerging players
- rOpenSci: NumFOCUS-affiliated open source project focused on reproducible research in R, including peer-reviewed R packages. Comparable because it serves the same scientific open source community through NumFOCUS fiscal sponsorship.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
NumFOCUS social profiles
Digital presenceNumFOCUS financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
NumFOCUS leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
NumFOCUS funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
NumFOCUS 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 NumFOCUS
What does NumFOCUS do?
NumFOCUS provides fiscal sponsorship, funding, legal protection, trademark management, and community infrastructure for over 80 open source scientific computing projects including NumPy, pandas, Jupyter, Matplotlib, Julia, and scikit-learn. The organization also operates educational and community programs (PyData events, Small Development Grants, Google Summer of Code, Diversity & Inclusion initiatives) and a Jobs Board for the open source scientific computing community.
Is NumFOCUS a public or private company?
NumFOCUS is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was NumFOCUS founded?
NumFOCUS was founded in 2012. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is NumFOCUS based?
NumFOCUS is headquartered in Austin, United States, in the North America region.
How does NumFOCUS make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. Corporate Sponsorships are the primary driver. The others are institutional Memberships, individual Donations, foundation Grants and project Designations.
Who are NumFOCUS's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Eclipse Foundation, OpenJS Foundation, Python Software Foundation, Free Software Foundation, Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), Linux Foundation and Apache Software Foundation. Broad incumbents are Wikimedia Foundation and Mozilla Foundation. rOpenSci is listed as an emerging player.
Does NumFOCUS have an API?
No public API is recorded for NumFOCUS.
What industry is NumFOCUS in?
NumFOCUS's product category is Open Source Scientific Computing Foundation Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAAAFAL, STEM & Maker Education (Makerspaces, Coding Clubs, Robotics). Its NAICS code is 5417 and its SIC code is 7372.