The Learning Agency
The Learning Agency is a Washington DC-based education innovation organization founded in 2017 that runs the world's largest ed tech competition, leads the LEVI Math program, and produces AI benchmarks (ASAP 2.0, Eedi) and open datasets for educational assessment, funded by foundations including Gates, CZI, Schmidt Futures, and Renaissance Philanthropy.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2017
- HeadquartersWashington, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What The Learning Agency does
The Learning Agency is a Washington DC-based education innovation organization founded in 2017 by Ulrich Boser. The organization finds, develops, and supports programs, research, and tools intended to improve teaching and learning outcomes, operating at the intersection of learning science, data analytics, and emerging technologies. Its core programs are the Tools Competition (the world's largest ed tech competition, awarding over $17.5 million to 150+ winners across 48 countries since 2020), the Learning Engineering Virtual Institute (LEVI, a five-year flagship initiative with Renaissance Philanthropy whose math interventions have reached 1.1 million students), and the Feedback Prize (AI-based automated writing feedback that produced the PERSUADE and ELLIPSE datasets and whose algorithms have been integrated into Google Gemini). Sub-products include the Educational AI Leaderboard (ASAP 2.0 and Eedi Misconception Annotation Project benchmarks with private test sets), open-source educational datasets, and applied research such as Whisper ASR finetuning for child speech recognition.
The underlying technology stack combines applied research in NLP (automated essay scoring, discourse element labeling), speech recognition (Whisper finetuning via LoRA), and knowledge-retrieval/benchmarking on top of large language models including Google Gemini. The organization does not develop frontier foundation models itself; rather, it produces domain-specialized benchmarks, datasets, and tooling that sit downstream of frontier model providers and shape how those models are evaluated for educational tasks.
The business model is foundation- and contract-funded rather than transactional. Revenue streams fall into three categories: (1) foundation and philanthropic grants from Renaissance Philanthropy, Schmidt Futures, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative; (2) competition sponsorship and administration fees, including the OpenAI Impact Prize channel via the Tools Competition; and (3) program and research contracts with universities (Vanderbilt, Georgia State, University of Minnesota, Penn), healthcare organizations (Harvard Medical School, St. Michael's Hospital, American Association for Respiratory Care), and government agencies (verified US Federal Contractor Registry status). Customer segments prioritize foundations and ed tech organizations, with universities, government agencies, and individual developers as secondary segments. No publicly disclosed pricing exists because the organization does not sell products directly to end customers; all programs are delivered through partners and are grant- or contract-funded.
The Learning Agency firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- The Learning Agency
- Legal name
- The Learning Agency
- Website
- https://the-learning-agency.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2017
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- The Learning Agency is a Washington DC-based education innovation organization founded in 2017 that runs the world's largest ed tech competition, leads the LEVI Math program, and produces AI benchmarks (ASAP 2.0, Eedi) and open datasets for educational assessment, funded by foundations including Gates, CZI, Schmidt Futures, and Renaissance Philanthropy.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
The Learning Agency industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Education Innovation Consulting
- NAICS
- Educational Services (611), All Other Schools and Instruction (61169)
- SIC
- Services-Educational Services (8200)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Automated Scoring, Grading & Feedback (AI/ML) Systems (EDAFADAE)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Test Item Banks, Question Authoring & Assessment Design Tools (EDAFADAC), AI & Machine Learning (Foundations & Applied) (EDAMACAG)
Keywords
Where The Learning Agency is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Washington
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
The Learning Agency business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Foundation and Philanthropic Funding: Primary funding from foundations including Renaissance Philanthropy (operating partner of LEVI and Tools Competition), Schmidt Futures, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. These partnerships fund specific programs and initiatives.
- Competition Sponsorship and Administration: The Tools Competition is a multi-million dollar global prize challenge funded by sponsors including OpenAI Impact Prize. The Learning Agency designs and administers the competition process.
- Program and Research Contracts: Contracts with universities, government agencies, and organizations for specific research projects, program management, and policy advisory services.
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels8 records
The Learning Agency product offering
Product offeringCore offering
The Learning Agency finds, develops, and supports educational innovation through programs, research, and AI-driven tools. Its core offerings include the Tools Competition (the world's largest ed tech competition), the Learning Engineering Virtual Institute (LEVI) Math program targeting doubled middle school math progress for low-income students, and the Feedback Prize advancing automated writing assessment through AI. The organization also produces educational AI benchmarks, open-source datasets, and research reports for foundations, universities, government agencies, and ed tech developers.
Product overview
The Learning Agency is a consultancy specializing in educational innovation with a portfolio of programs, research, and tools. The core offerings include the Tools Competition (world's largest ed tech competition), the Learning Engineering Virtual Institute (LEVI, focused on AI-powered middle school math solutions), and the Feedback Prize (advancing automated writing feedback through AI competitions). Supporting offerings include the Educational AI Leaderboard (benchmarks for AI in education), open-source datasets (PERSUADE, ELLIPSE), and research reports. The organization functions as a research and program management consultancy rather than a SaaS platform.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Learning Engineering Virtual Institute (LEVI): A first-of-its-kind, large-scale independent institute established by Renaissance Philanthropy and The Learning Agency with a mission to develop, implement, and scale AI-based tools to transform teaching and learning.
- Tools Competition
- Feedback Prize
Products and services
- Tools Competition The world's largest ed tech competition, a multi-million dollar global prize challenge that leverages technology, data, and learning science to meet urgent needs of learners worldwide. Designed for ed tech developers, researchers, and teams building educational tools, with support from partners including the University of Minnesota and OpenAI Impact Prize.
- Learning Engineering Virtual Institute (LEVI) Math Program A first-of-its-kind large-scale institute established by Renaissance Philanthropy and The Learning Agency with a mission to develop, implement, and scale AI-based tools to transform teaching and learning. Supports seven grantees developing AI-based math interventions and has reached 1.1 million students.
- Feedback Prize A competition and dataset series advancing automated writing assessment through AI. Created the PERSUADE dataset (25,000+ essays) and ELLIPSE dataset (6,000+ English learner essays) in collaboration with The Learning Agency Lab, Georgia State University, and Vanderbilt University.
- Educational AI Leaderboard Benchmarks designed around real educational tasks with private test sets to ensure models are truly generalizing rather than memorizing training data. Includes ASAP 2.0 for automated essay scoring and Eedi Misconception Annotation Project for identifying student math misconceptions.
- Open-Source Datasets Free, open-source, well-documented datasets supporting research, product development, and AI use cases. Includes PERSUADE (25,000+ argumentative essays), ELLIPSE (6,000+ English learner essays), ASAP 2.0 (automated essay scoring), and child speech datasets available via GitHub and The Learning Exchange.
- Mechanical Ventilation for COVID-19 Course Online course developed in partnership with Harvard Medical School, edX, St. Michael's Hospital, and the American Association for Respiratory Care to educate medical professionals on ventilator use during the COVID-19 pandemic. Enrolled 350,000+ professionals globally.
Quantifiable outcome
- 130+ winners from 44 countries impact nearly 50 million learners by 2027
- +5 more outcomes
Companies that use The Learning Agency
Customer profileNamed customers11 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
The Learning Agency technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability9 records
Feature6 records
The Learning Agency partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
15 partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.
- Renaissance PhilanthropyflagshipOperating partner for both LEVI (Learning Engineering Virtual Institute) and Tools Competition programs. Renaissance Philanthropy established these programs and The Learning Agency serves as operating partner, designing and administering all components.
- ASSISTmentscoreLongstanding partnership supporting strategy, communications, research, and programs. Designed Teacher Ambassador program with two cycles completed. ASSISTments provides math formative assessment platform integrated with The Learning Agency's work.
- Data Science 4 Everyone (DS4E)coreNational initiative coalition working to prepare youth for data-driven world. The Learning Agency supported building coalition with nearly 3,000 members, policy champions, and resource center.
- Harvard Medical SchoolcorePartnered to quickly develop and launch 'Mechanical Ventilation for COVID-19' online course to educate medical professionals, enrolling 350,000+ professionals.
- edXcorePlatform partner for hosting Mechanical Ventilation for COVID-19 course, making it freely available to medical community.
- St. Michael's HospitalminorPartner in Toronto providing medical expertise for ventilator training course development.
- American Association for Respiratory CareminorHealthcare professional association partner providing respiratory care expertise for COVID-19 training course.
- Penn Center for Learning AnalyticscoreCollaboration on Transforming Educational Technology Through Convergence workshop series bringing together 35+ experts from ed tech, research, and philanthropy.
- Reboot FoundationminorNonprofit organization focused on critical thinking. Partnership to research social media's influence on critical thinking, resulting in 'Is There A Fake News Generation?' report covered by major media.
- Vanderbilt UniversitycoreAcademic partner in Feedback Prize development and ASAP 2.0 leaderboard. Contributed research expertise including faculty like Bethany Rittle-Johnson to math education research.
- Georgia State UniversitycoreAcademic partner in Feedback Prize collaboration, contributing to development of datasets and algorithms for automated writing feedback.
- University of MinnesotacoreAcademic partner for Tools Competition, collaborating on design and administration of annual competition process.
- Learning Engineering Virtual Institute (LEVI) GranteescoreSeven grantee teams (including Carnegie Mellon University's PLUS program, Rising Academies) developing AI-based interventions toward LEVI's doubling goal.
- LEVI Hub NetworkcoreExpert organizations and individuals funded through grants to provide essential resources to LEVI teams and broader learning engineering field.
- The Learning Agency LabcoreSister organization dedicated to developing science-of-learning-based tools. Now integrated into The Learning Agency with work continuing via R&D team.
Scale indicators8 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
The Learning Agency competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- EdSurge: Ed-tech news and community platform that reports on products, research, and trends. Comparable as a knowledge-distribution and community-building organization adjacent to TLA's research publications and learning engineering community.
- NewSchools Venture Fund: Philanthropic venture fund focused on finding, funding, and supporting innovative education ventures and tools. Highly comparable to TLA in operating as a grant-and-program intermediary that surfaces and scales ed-tech innovators.
- 4.0 Schools: Education innovation incubator and fellowship that supports founders building new learning models and tools. Comparable in its small team, foundation-supported model, and focus on early-stage ed-tech program design.
- Results for America: Nonprofit focused on evidence-based policy and practice, with strong foundation support and a coalition/competition-oriented GTM. Comparable to TLA in using research, advocacy, and coalition-building to influence the education and innovation ecosystem.
- Digital Promise: Nonprofit that works with communities, educators, and entrepreneurs to develop and scale innovative learning tools. Closely comparable as a mission-driven organization building ed-tech accelerators, micro-credentialing, and research-driven tool adoption similar to TLA's Tools Competition.
- Getting Smart: Education research and advisory firm publishing reports, guides, and case studies on innovative practices and ed-tech. Comparable to TLA's Guides & Reports output and policy-facing research orientation.
- XPRIZE: Designs and operates large global incentive prizes to address grand challenges. Highly comparable to TLA's Tools Competition model in prize design, sponsor management, and winner network cultivation across multiple domains.
- XQ Institute: Education innovation organization focused on rethinking high school through funding, research, and tool development. Comparable in operating as a foundation-backed program and research organization in K-12 ed-tech innovation.
Broad incumbents
- ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education): Large membership organization serving educators and ed-tech professionals with standards, certifications, and conferences. Comparable as a broader ed-tech organization with overlapping AI-in-education focus, but at significantly larger scale and broader scope.
- Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching: Large education-focused foundation funding research, networked improvement communities, and innovation in teaching/learning. Comparable in mission and foundation-supported research orientation, though with a much larger endowment and broader mandate.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
The Learning Agency social profiles
Digital presenceThe Learning Agency financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
The Learning Agency leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles8 records
The Learning Agency funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
The Learning Agency 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 The Learning Agency
What does The Learning Agency do?
The Learning Agency finds, develops, and supports educational innovation through programs, research, and AI-driven tools. Its core offerings include the Tools Competition (the world's largest ed tech competition), the Learning Engineering Virtual Institute (LEVI) Math program targeting doubled middle school math progress for low-income students, and the Feedback Prize advancing automated writing assessment through AI. The organization also produces educational AI benchmarks, open-source datasets, and research reports for foundations, universities, government agencies, and ed tech developers.
Is The Learning Agency a public or private company?
The Learning Agency is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was The Learning Agency founded?
The Learning Agency was founded in 2017. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is The Learning Agency based?
The Learning Agency is headquartered in Washington, United States, in the North America region.
How does The Learning Agency make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Foundation and Philanthropic Funding is the primary driver. The others are competition Sponsorship and Administration and program and Research Contracts.
Who are The Learning Agency's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are EdSurge, NewSchools Venture Fund, 4.0 Schools, Results for America, Digital Promise, Getting Smart, XPRIZE and XQ Institute. Broad incumbents are ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) and Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
Does The Learning Agency have an API?
No public API is recorded for The Learning Agency.
What industry is The Learning Agency in?
The Learning Agency's product category is Education Innovation Consulting. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAFADAE, Automated Scoring, Grading & Feedback (AI/ML) Systems, with a secondary code of EDAFADAC, Test Item Banks, Question Authoring & Assessment Design Tools. Its NAICS code is 611 and its SIC code is 8200.