What Sunbird does

Sunbird is a collective alliance of individuals and organizations, seeded by EkStep Foundation, that develops and distributes an open-source Digital Public Good (DPG) platform composed of 19 modular microservices-based building blocks. These blocks span education (DIKSHA, Educator, Learner, Librarian, Examiner), credentialing (Authenticator/RC, DIVOC, Verifier specs), communication (UCI across WhatsApp, SMS, Telegram, Email), data and analytics (Obsrv, cQube, Telemetry), content creation (coKreat), assessment (QuML, Saral), and AI capabilities (GenAI-powered AI Assistant, Vakyansh ASR, Anuvaad translation, Linguist). Deployments at national scale include DIKSHA for India's Ministry of Education reaching 180M+ students and 7M+ teachers across 40 states, and DIVOC issuing 2B+ vaccination certificates across 5 countries.

The platform's technology foundation is a microservices architecture designed for modularity, interoperability, and sovereign deployment; adopters can self-host individual building blocks or compose them into larger solutions, with no vendor lock-in. Distribution is entirely open source via GitHub, and adoption is driven through a partner-led model — implementation facilitators such as COSS, tier-1 consulting firms (EY, KPMG, Infosys), and a network of technology integrators deploy Sunbird on behalf of governments and enterprises.

Sunbird does not monetize the software directly; the platform is provided free of charge under open-source licenses as a Digital Public Good. The entity itself operates with 11–50 staff and no disclosed venture funding, sustained by EkStep Foundation's nonprofit mission and partner-driven implementations. Customer concentration in usage terms is heavily skewed to Indian government education deployments (NCERT, NISHTHA, 27 state departments), with emerging enterprise adoption through Infosys LeX and Veranda Learning Solutions.

Name

Sunbird

Legal name

Sunbird

Website

https://sunbird.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Sunbird is an open-source Digital Public Good platform, seeded by EkStep Foundation, offering 19 modular building blocks for education, credentialing, communication, and AI. It serves governments and enterprises, with deployments powering India's DIKSHA for 180M+ students and DIVOC for 2B+ vaccination certificates across 5 countries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Open-Source Digital Public Infrastructure Platform

NAICS

Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Cloud-Native Development (Containers, Kubernetes, Microservices) (BPAEACAD)

Keywords

• Open source platform
• Digital public goods
• Education technology
• Healthcare platforms
• Government software

Headquarters

HQ city

Kormangala

HQ country

India

HQ region

Asia

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Open Source / No Direct Revenue: Sunbird is a Digital Public Good (DPG) offered free of charge under open-source licensing. The platform is developed and maintained by EkStep Foundation and the Sunbird Collective community. Revenue is not generated directly from the software; instead, value is created through ecosystem adoption, partner implementations, and societal impact.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Sunbird is an open-source Digital Public Good (DPG) platform that provides 19 modular building blocks (microservices) which can be combined to build digital solutions in education, healthcare, and governance. The platform is seeded by the EkStep Foundation and offered as free, reusable infrastructure for governments and enterprises. Reference implementations packaged on top of the building blocks include DIKSHA (national education platform), DIVOC (health platform), and e-Jaadui Pitara (early childhood education).

Product overview

Sunbird is a Digital Public Good (DPG) platform operated by The Sunbird Collective, offering a toolbox of 19 innovative building blocks that can be used individually or combined to create larger solutions. The platform is built on microservices architecture and open-source principles. The building blocks span multiple domains including education (DIKSHA, Educator, Learner, Librarian, Examiner), healthcare (DIVOC vaccination certificates), communication (UCI for multi-channel messaging), AI capabilities (AI Assistant, Translator, Linguist, Vakyansh ASR), data management (Obsrv telemetry, cQube analytics), credentials (RC Registry, VC Specs), content (coKreat), and assessment (QuML, Saral digitization). Solutions like DIKSHA enable 180 Mn+ students with QR-coded textbooks, while DIVOC has issued 2 Bn+ vaccination certificates across 5 countries. The platform enables organizations to build sovereign, scalable digital infrastructure for societal transformation.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• DIKSHA: National education platform by NCERT rolled out in 2017, adopted by 40 states in India, empowering 180 Mn+ students and 7 Mn+ teachers
• DIVOC (Digital Infrastructure for Verifiable Open Credentialing)
• e-Jaadui Pitara
• Sunbird UCI
• Sunbird AI Assistant
• Sunbird Spark

Products and services

• Sunbird AI Assistant GenAI-powered chatbot building block that delivers conversational assistance across education, healthcare, and governance workflows for government and enterprise adopters.
• Sunbird UCI (Unified Communication Interface) Building block that enables applications to send and receive messages across multiple channels including SMS, WhatsApp, email, push notifications, and IVR through a single API.
• Linguist Building block providing language processing capabilities to support multilingual content and linguistic analysis within Sunbird-based applications.
• Translator Building block that provides machine translation services so adopters can localise educational, healthcare, and governance content across Indian and other languages.
• Vakyansh Open-source Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) building block supporting Indic and other languages, used to convert speech to text for learning, accessibility, and voice-driven applications.
• Analyser Building block that provides analytics and reporting capabilities across Sunbird-based platforms, surfacing usage and outcome insights for administrators and program managers.
• Educator Building block designed for teacher-facing workflows including content discovery, classroom resources, and professional development in Sunbird-based learning platforms.
• Examiner Building block that supports online assessments and examinations, including item authoring, delivery, and results management for educational and certification use cases.
• Librarian Building block providing content cataloguing, search, and discovery capabilities to help users find learning resources and other digital assets.
• Learner Building block focused on learner-facing experiences, supporting personalised learning journeys, progress tracking, and content consumption within Sunbird-based platforms.
• Observer Building block enabling observation, monitoring, and tracking of platform activity and user behaviour for program oversight and quality assurance.
• Authenticator Building block providing authentication services for Sunbird-based platforms, supporting secure sign-in and user identity management.
• Verifier Building block that verifies credentials, certificates, and identity claims within Sunbird-based platforms, supporting verifiable digital credentials.
• Digitiser Building block for converting physical or legacy content (books, documents, recordings) into structured digital assets usable by other Sunbird building blocks.
• Matchmaker Building block that matches users (learners, job seekers, citizens) with relevant content, opportunities, or services based on profile and context.
• Researcher Building block supporting research workflows, including data collection, experimental design, and structured studies within Sunbird-based platforms.
• Quizmaster

Quantifiable outcome

• Training coverage increased from 10-15% to >90% with digital programs
• +6 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration10 records

AI capability6 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• EkStep FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEkStep Foundation is the founding organization that developed Sunbird to fulfill its education mission of enhancing access to learning opportunities at scale. EkStep seeds the Sunbird Collective and provides ongoing strategic direction.
• EY (Ernst & Young)majorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerGlobal professional services firm partnering with Sunbird to build modern digital solutions for education and governance clients.
• KPMGmajorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerProfessional services firm collaborating as a technology partner to build solutions using Sunbird building blocks.
• InfosysmajorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerInfosys developed Infosys LeX platform using Sunbird for organizational talent transformation. Active contributor to the Sunbird ecosystem.
• Sanketika ConsultingminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerConsulting partner building solutions using Sunbird.
• Navadhiti SolutionsminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerPartner building digital solutions with Sunbird.
• COSS (Centre for Open Source Services)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerKey execution facilitator for Sunbird DPG adoption globally. COSS is committed to growing the DPG ecosystem, creating DPG-led solutions, and building the community. COSS leads awareness creation and facilitates implementation of societal transformation projects.

Scale indicators13 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Moodle: Open-source learning management system with global adoption across education and enterprise; comparable to Sunbird ED/Learner (Lern) as a free, modular LMS foundation that governments and universities self-host and customise.
• Open edX: Open-source platform for online learning at scale, operated by a non-profit consortium; comparable to Sunbird's Educator/Spark as a DPG-style learning stack used by governments, universities, and enterprises for large-scale capacity building.
• DHIS2: Open-source health information management platform recognised as a Digital Public Good and deployed in 100+ countries; directly comparable to DIVOC as a global, open-source health DPI building block stewarded by a non-profit (HISP).
• eGov Foundation (DIGIT): India-based non-profit stewarding DIGIT, an open-source municipal governance platform used by Indian urban local bodies; comparable to Sunbird as a peer Indian DPG/DPI collective targeting government digital infrastructure with modular open building blocks.
• Sahana Foundation: Open-source disaster management and humanitarian platform, recognised DPG; comparable to Sunbird's community-led, foundation-seeded DPG model applied to a different societal-scale vertical.
• iHRIS (IntraHealth): Open-source human resources information system for the health workforce, recognised as a DPG; comparable to Sunbird's RC (Authenticator) and Obsrv building blocks as a sovereign, open-source workforce credentialing and registry stack.

Emerging players

• OpenMRS: Open-source medical record platform used across low- and middle-income countries; adjacent to DIVOC as an open-source health DPG targeting public-sector deployments, though focused on clinical records rather than credentialing.
• CK-12 Foundation: Non-profit providing free, open-licensed K-12 educational content and a FlexBook platform; comparable to Sunbird's Librarian (Knowlg) and Learner building blocks as an open-content infrastructure for school education.
• GovStack (ITU/DIAL): Initiative by ITU, DIAL, and partners defining reusable building blocks for government digital services; comparable as a DPI ecosystem framing Sunbird's building-block architecture sits within, and as an emerging competitor/reference for country-level DPI procurement.

Others

• Open Data Kit (ODK): Open-source data collection platform used for forms-based field workflows in health, education, and humanitarian programmes; adjacent/integrated with Sunbird's UCI for ODK-driven conversation flows, and competes in the same government digitisation budgets.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses1 record

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/Sunbird_EkStep
• GitHubgithub.com/Sunbird-ALL
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/sunbirdbuildingblocks

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Sunbird