What International Mathematical Olympiad does

The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) is the world's oldest and most prestigious international mathematics competition for secondary school students, founded in 1959 in Romania with seven participating countries. The organization operates a single annual competition held in a rotating host country; the 2025 edition was hosted in Sunshine Coast, Australia with 110 teams, and the 2026 edition will be held in Shanghai, China, with a record 685 contestants from 119 countries. Governance is provided by the IMO Board (chaired in spirit by President Gregor Dolinar with elected members and host-country representatives) and a Netherlands-registered charitable arm, the IMO Foundation (founded 2011), which funds travel awards for contestants from developing nations. The foundation is led by Board Chair Maria Losada, Secretary General Birgit van Dalen, and Treasurer Quintijn Puite, and is supported by Diamond Sponsors including Citadel, Citadel Securities, OpenAI, and Jane Street.

The IMO's product surface centers on the annual competition and a comprehensive digital archive operated through imo-official.org, which houses team and individual results, a problems archive with PDF translations in more than 50 languages, and a Hall of Fame tracking contestant achievements. The organization also introduced a redesigned public website in May 2026 to modernize presentation and improve access for the global mathematics community. Countries select contestants through national mathematical olympiad programs and bear the costs of sending official delegations of six contestants plus team leaders and deputy leaders, who also serve as the international jury. Travel awards sponsored by partners such as Citadel Securities supported contestants from 35 countries for IMO 2026.

The IMO is structured as a nonprofit competition organization rather than a commercial enterprise; it does not publicly disclose revenue, charges no fees to contestants, and is funded through charitable contributions and corporate sponsorships channeled primarily via the IMO Foundation. Customer segments are exclusively educational: secondary school students who qualify through national programs, the teachers and mathematicians who lead delegations and serve as jury members, and the national mathematical olympiad organizations that coordinate participation. With 119 participating countries and a 65-plus-year history, the IMO functions as the de facto global standard-setter for secondary-school mathematical competition.

Name

International Mathematical Olympiad

Legal name

International Mathematical Olympiad

Website

https://imo-official.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1959

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The International Mathematical Olympiad is the world's oldest international mathematics competition for secondary school students, held annually since 1959 and governed by the IMO Board and the Netherlands-registered IMO Foundation, with 119 countries sending delegations to the 2026 edition in Shanghai.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Academic Mathematics Competition

NAICS

Educational Services (611), Other Schools and Instruction (6116)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Math Competitions & Tournament Organizers (EDAMAEAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Olympiad-Style Proof & Advanced Topics Programs (Number Theory/Combinatorics/Geometry) (EDAMAEAD), Academic Olympiads & Subject Competitions (Science, Math, Informatics) (EDAMAGAE), Math Competition Administration Services (Proctoring, Grading, Logistics) (EDAMAEAO)

Keywords

• Mathematics competition
• Academic olympiad
• International math contest
• Secondary education
• Mathematical talent development

Headquarters

HQ city

Athens

HQ country

Greece

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Others, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Sponsorship and Charitable Support: The IMO is supported by corporate sponsors including Diamond Sponsors (Citadel Securities, OpenAI, Jane Street) and funding from the IMO Foundation. Travel awards to support contestants from developing countries are funded by sponsors like Citadel Securities.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

The International Mathematical Olympiad organizes and operates the annual IMO competition, the world championship mathematics competition for high school students held in different countries each year. Supporting the core competition are publicly accessible archives including a Problems Archive (with mathematical competition problems in 50+ languages), a Results Database (team and individual contestant scores, rankings, medal distributions), and a Hall of Fame (historical record of medal achievements and perfect scores). The organization is supported by the IMO Foundation, a charitable entity that funds travel awards for contestants from developing nations.

Product overview

The International Mathematical Olympiad operates a single unified offering: the annual IMO competition. Supporting this core product are several interconnected data services including a comprehensive Results Database tracking team and individual contestant scores across all editions, a Problems Archive with mathematical competition problems available in 50+ languages, and a Hall of Fame documenting medal achievements and perfect scores. The organization is supported by the IMO Foundation, a charitable entity that funds participation and travel awards for contestants.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) Competition
• Results Database
• Problems Archive
• Hall of Fame
• Travel Awards Program

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• IMO FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe IMO Foundation is a charitable organization founded in 2011 and registered in The Netherlands. Its sole purpose is to support the work of the IMO. Key people include Maria Losada (Board Chair), Birgit van Dalen (Secretary General), and Quintijn Puite (Treasurer). The foundation funds travel awards for contestants from developing nations.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• International Physics Olympiad (IPhO): Annual international Olympiad for high-school physics students, organized under the same structural model as the IMO — rotating host country, national delegations, volunteer jury, and zero participation fees — making it the closest organizational analogue outside of mathematics.
• International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO): Sister international science Olympiad for secondary-school chemists, governed by an international committee and run on the same annual rotating-host, country-delegation, medal-based model as the IMO.
• International Biology Olympiad (IBO): Annual international Olympiad for secondary-school biologists, sharing the IMO's structure of national selection, rotating host country, and international jury — directly comparable governance and event-operations model.
• International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI): Premier international Olympiad for secondary-school algorithmic/programming talent, run on the same single-event-per-year, country-delegation, no-fee model as the IMO and serving the same student demographic.
• European Girls' Mathematical Olympiad (EGMO): Annual Olympiad for female secondary-school mathematicians modeled directly on the IMO's competition and grading format, providing a regional but structurally identical comparison point.
• International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL): International subject Olympiad for secondary-school students run on the same rotating-host, country-delegation, medal-structure model as the IMO and serving the same age cohort.

Emerging players

• Art of Problem Solving (AoPS): Largest commercial training and content ecosystem serving prospective IMO contestants, operating in the same competitive-math category as the IMO's aspirant pool — adjacent rather than directly competing, but a key enabler of IMO participation.

Broad incumbents

• Mathematical Association of America (MAA) — American Mathematics Competitions: Operates the U.S. national pipeline (AMC, AIME, USAMO) that feeds directly into IMO country teams, and more broadly runs the largest national math competition ecosystem in any single IMO-participating country.
• Putnam Mathematical Competition: Premier undergraduate math competition in North America, run by the MAA. While at the college level, it shares the IMO's competitive-math culture, problem-archival heritage, and medal-based recognition framework.

Others

• Tournament of Towns: Long-running international math competition with a multi-tier structure and broad geographic reach. Operates as a complementary, parallel math-talent competition rather than as a direct competitor to the IMO.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/international-mathematical-olympiad

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about International Mathematical Olympiad