QCon

What QCon does

QCon, operated by C4Media, Inc., is a software development conference and professional education company headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Founded around 2007, the company runs in-person flagship conferences in San Francisco, London, New York, and Sao Paulo, each curated for senior software engineers, software architects, and technical leaders rather than product-marketing audiences. The conferences emphasize patterns and practices over vendor pitches, with an 11-to-1 attendee-to-speaker ratio and tracks spanning emerging technologies such as AI/ML, cloud infrastructure, and software architecture.

QCon's core products are organized into two pillars: the QCon conference series and the InfoQ Online Cohorts and Certifications program. The conference business sells in-person and video-only passes, with ticket discounts tied to a tiered Global Alumni Program (Bronze through Diamond) that rewards repeat attendance. The newer online cohort program offers three 5-week certification tracks — AI Engineering (ICAEP), Architecture (ICSAET), and AI Security & Privacy Engineering — priced at USD 1,470 per cohort, delivered via Zoom with Slack-based peer coordination, and culminating in capstone articles published on InfoQ.com. Underlying technology is a standard stack: Zoom, Slack, Firebase, Google Analytics, CrazyEgg, and Meta Pixel, with data hosted on AWS under GDPR-compliant Standard Contractual Clauses.

Revenue is generated through three streams: conference ticket sales (one-time/perpetual license), online cohort enrollment (priced per 5-week program with a USD 147 alumni discount on second enrollment), and conference sponsorships where sponsors capture consented badge-scan data. The customer base is a horizontal mix of thousands of individual senior engineers across enterprises (Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Meta, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Netflix, Salesforce, etc.) plus sponsor organizations. The company is privately held with no disclosed funding rounds or external institutional investment, and management owns the brand alongside the InfoQ content platform.

Name

QCon

Legal name

C4Media, Inc.

Website

https://qconferences.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

QCon, operated by C4Media Inc., runs in-person software development conferences and 5-week online certification cohorts for senior software engineers, architects, and technical leaders, focusing on emerging technologies and practitioner-led patterns and practices.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Toronto

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Conference Tickets: In-person and video-only passes for QCon events including QCon San Francisco, QCon London, QCon New York, and QCon Sao Paulo. Ticket pricing varies by alumni status and pass type.
2. Online Cohort Programs: 5-week online certification cohorts priced at USD 1,470 per cohort. Programs include AI Engineering, Architecture, and AI Security & Privacy Engineering. Alumni receive USD 147 discount on second program enrollment.
3. Conference Sponsorships: Sponsors gain access to attendee data through badge scanning (with explicit consent). Sponsors receive name, email address, and company name when attendees allow badge scans.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

QCon produces multi-day in-person software development conferences (QCon San Francisco, QCon London, QCon New York, QCon Sao Paulo) and video-only passes focused on emerging technologies and patterns for senior software engineers, architects, and technical leaders. It also delivers 5-week online certification cohorts (AI Engineering, Architecture, AI Security & Privacy Engineering) at USD 1,470 per cohort, combining live Zoom sessions, Slack-based peer discussions, and capstone articles published on InfoQ.

Product overview

QCon is a conference and education company producing software development conferences (QCon) and online certification cohorts (InfoQ Certification) for senior software engineers, architects, and technical leaders. QCon Conferences offers in-person events in San Francisco and London, plus video-only passes, covering emerging software trends and innovations. The InfoQ Online Cohorts and Certifications program provides five-week online cohort programs including AI Engineering, Architecture, and AI Security & Privacy Engineering, each delivering peer-based learning with expert facilitation and resulting in industry certifications. Both QCon and InfoQ are brands owned by C4Media Inc.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• QCon Conferences Global series of multi-day software development conferences featuring practitioner-led talks on emerging software trends and patterns, with in-person and video-only pass options, targeted at senior software engineers, architects, and technical leaders.
• QCon San Francisco Annual in-person and video-only software development conference held in San Francisco covering emerging technologies and innovations for senior software professionals.
• QCon London Annual in-person and video-only software development conference held in London covering emerging technologies and innovations for senior software professionals.
• InfoQ Certified AI Engineering Program 5-week online cohort program teaching production AI engineering practices including RAG pipelines, AI agents, AI platforms, and operational excellence (evals, reliability). Awards the ICAEP certification. Priced at USD 1,470 per cohort.
• InfoQ Certified Architect Program 5-week online cohort program covering software architecture for distributed systems, decentralized decision-making, platform engineering, and AI architecture decisions. Awards the ICSAET (InfoQ Certified Software Architect in Emerging Technologies) certification. Priced at USD 1,470 per cohort.
• InfoQ Certified AI Security & Privacy Engineering Program 5-week online cohort program focused on securing and governing AI systems in production, covering sensitive data handling, threat modeling, red teaming, controls, observability, and governance. Priced at USD 1,470 per cohort.
• QCon Global Alumni Program Tiered loyalty program for repeat QCon attendees offering discounts, custom alumni badges, physical gifts, networking events, early training selection, early video access, and speaker dinner invitations across Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Diamond tiers.

Quantifiable outcome

• Thousands of senior software engineers, architects, and technical leaders helped adopt new technologies and practices
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers26 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered infrastructure and core.

• AWS (Amazon Web Services)infrastructureTechnology or IntegrationQCon and InfoQ store and secure data using AWS Cloud Servers located in the US. AWS is committed to adhering to requirements under GDPR, and data transfers are secured under AWS Standard Contractual Clauses and Data Protection Agreement.
• ZoomcoreTechnology or IntegrationZoom is used as the video conferencing platform for all online cohort sessions. Participants need the latest version of Zoom desktop client for optimal experience.
• SlackcoreTechnology or IntegrationSlack is used for private workspace for peer networking and coordination among cohort participants throughout the 5-week program.
• PayPalcoreTechnology or IntegrationPayPal is used for payment processing along with credit cards and Moneris for conference tickets and cohort registrations.
• MoneriscoreTechnology or IntegrationMoneris is used for payment processing for conference tickets alongside PayPal and credit cards.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• Maven: Maven operates a cohort-based learning platform with paid, instructor-led courses for professionals, including cohorts on AI engineering. It competes with QCon's online AI Engineering and Architecture cohorts as a newer, more scalable cohort infrastructure targeting similar senior practitioners.

Broad incumbents

• Pluralsight: Pluralsight is a broader incumbent in online technical training for software developers and IT professionals, with a deep course library and enterprise L&D contracts. It overlaps with QCon's online cohort and certification business but operates at much greater scale across all developer skill levels rather than senior-only.
• AWS re:Invent: AWS re:Invent is the largest vendor-run cloud and developer conference, drawing tens of thousands of attendees. It competes with QCon for senior developer mindshare, conference sponsorships, and enterprise training budgets, though it is vendor-led and at a fundamentally larger scale.
• KubeCon + CloudNativeCon (CNCF / Linux Foundation): KubeCon is the flagship vendor/community conference for cloud-native and Kubernetes practitioners, run by the CNCF under the Linux Foundation. It overlaps with QCon's distributed systems, platform engineering and architecture tracks and competes for both attendees and sponsors.

Direct peers

• Codemotion: Codemotion produces multi-city developer conferences (Madrid, Berlin, Amsterdam, Milan) and online content for software engineers. It mirrors QCon's strategy of running conferences across multiple geographies aimed at senior developers and architects.
• GOTO Conferences: GOTO runs independent software development conferences (GOTO Amsterdam, Berlin, Copenhagen, Chicago) targeted at senior developers and architects. It competes head-to-head with QCon for the same senior, vendor-neutral, practitioner-driven audience and speaker roster.
• O'Reilly Media: O'Reilly operates major software conferences (Velocity, Strata), online learning, and a vast technical content library for software developers. It is the closest direct peer to QCon because it combines a senior-developer conference business, paid online learning, and a long-running practitioner content archive, mirroring QCon/InfoQ's positioning.
• Strange Loop Conference: Strange Loop is an independent, annual software conference in St. Louis focused on emerging languages, distributed systems and software practice. It shares QCon's independent, non-vendor, practitioner-driven positioning and competes for senior engineering attendees and speakers.
• WeAreDevelopers: WeAreDevelopers runs the WeAreDevelopers World Congress and other developer events in Europe, targeting senior software engineers with peer-led talks. It is a direct competitor for the same senior-developer conference audience QCon serves.
• Devoxx / Voxxed Days: Devoxx and its Voxxed Days spin-off run independent developer conferences across Europe (Antwerp, Paris, London, Krakow and others). It competes with QCon for senior Java/enterprise developer attendance and shares the vendor-neutral, practitioner-led positioning.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/qcon
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCkQX1tChV7Z7l1LFF4L9j_g
• Facebookfacebook.com/QCon
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/qcon-conferences
• Instagraminstagram.com/qconconferences

Compliance2 records

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 QCon