Name

OpenBSD Foundation

Legal name

The OpenBSD Foundation

Website

https://openbsdfoundation.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Open Source Software Foundation

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321)

akta.pro primary industry

Private Foundations (BPAGAKAA)

Keywords

• Open source foundation
• Nonprofit software funding
• Free software development
• Open source infrastructure support
• Developer hackathon funding

Headquarters

HQ city

Toronto

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Individual Donations: Donations from individual supporters, primarily through PayPal (one-time and recurring monthly donations) in CAD, USD, and EUR currencies. Recurring donations are preferred for stable longer-term planning.
2. Corporate Sponsorship: Corporate sponsorships from companies that use or benefit from OpenBSD and related projects. Recognition tiers include Iridium ($100,000+), Platinum ($50,000-$100,000), Gold ($25,000-$50,000), Silver ($10,000-$25,000), and Bronze ($5,000-$10,000).
3. Benevity Employee Donation Matching: Corporate employee donation matching programs through Benevity, a platform that enables companies to match employee donations to registered causes.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The OpenBSD Foundation is a Canadian not-for-profit corporation that funds and supports the development, advancement, and maintenance of the OpenBSD operating system and related free software projects including OpenSSH, OpenBGPD, OpenNTPD, OpenSMTPD, LibreSSL, mandoc, and rpki-client. The foundation raises donations from individuals and corporations and channels the funds into project infrastructure, developer hackathons held globally, and targeted development initiatives for critical open-source security and networking software.

Product overview

The OpenBSD Foundation is a Canadian not-for-profit corporation that does not offer products or services for sale. Instead, it functions as a funding and organizational entity that supports the OpenBSD open-source operating system ecosystem and related free software projects. The foundation raises funds through donations and corporate sponsorships to support infrastructure costs, developer events (hackathons), and targeted development initiatives. The projects it supports include the OpenBSD operating system, OpenSSH, OpenBGPD, OpenNTPD, OpenSMTPD, LibreSSL, mandoc, and rpki-client. These are independent open-source projects with their own communities and distributions; the foundation provides financial support and organizational coordination rather than proprietary products or services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Annual Fundraising Campaign
• Developer Hackathon Funding Program

Quantifiable outcome

• OpenSSH is deployed with virtually every mainstream operating system and phone globally
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• M:TiercoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2013M:Tier co-sponsored development of KMS for Radeon Chipsets in OpenBSD (2013) and independently purchased equipment for release signing infrastructure (2014). A collaborative relationship supporting specific OpenBSD development initiatives.
• CyberacoreTechnology or IntegrationThe foundation funds continued membership in Cybera, which enables OpenBSD to connect directly to Internet2 for better educational institution connectivity. This partnership supports the project's networking infrastructure requirements.
• BenevitysupportingChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorThe foundation is registered with Benevity, a platform used by corporate employee donation matching programs. This enables employees of participating companies to have their donations to the foundation matched by their employers.

Scale indicators12 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• FreeBSD Foundation: A U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit that funds the FreeBSD operating system project, a direct sibling of OpenBSD in the BSD family. Operates a near-identical model: corporate sponsorship tiers, hackathon funding, and infrastructure support for a security-focused BSD-derived OS.
• NetBSD Foundation: The nonprofit steward of the NetBSD operating system, another direct BSD-family cousin. Comparable in mission (funding an open-source BSD derivative), funding scale (sub-$1M annual), and community-driven governance.
• OpenSSL Software Foundation: Stewards OpenSSL, the predecessor TLS library whose vulnerabilities catalyzed LibreSSL's creation within the OpenBSD ecosystem. Highly comparable in scale, mission (critical crypto infrastructure), and corporate-donor funding model.
• Software Freedom Conservancy: A 501(c)(3) umbrella nonprofit that provides fiscal and legal home for dozens of free-software projects, including some adjacent to OpenBSD. Comparable donor model, advocacy posture, and scale.
• Free Software Foundation: Foundational free-software advocacy nonprofit supporting GNU and copyleft-licensed projects. Direct peer in mission (free software advancement), governance style, and donation-based funding model.

Broad incumbents

• Apache Software Foundation: Larger, broader nonprofit that incubates and funds a portfolio of open-source projects. Less direct product overlap but materially comparable as a corporate-sponsored, donation-funded open-source governance body.
• Mozilla Foundation: Nonprofit that funds Firefox and a wider internet-health mission. Comparable as a donor-supported open-source nonprofit steward, though at much larger scale and with broader product scope.
• Eclipse Foundation: Larger nonprofit home for Java, IoT, and tooling projects with corporate membership dues. Comparable corporate-sponsorship structure but materially larger scale and broader project portfolio.
• Linux Foundation: The dominant open-source foundation (Linux kernel, Kubernetes, etc.) and previously a direct funder of OpenBSD via its Core Infrastructure Initiative. Highly comparable in corporate-donor model and policy role, but orders of magnitude larger in revenue.

Others

• Open Source Initiative: Advocacy body that maintains the Open Source Definition and stewards open-source licensing standards. Adjacent ecosystem participant rather than a direct operating-project funder, but relevant as a peer in the open-source nonprofit landscape.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

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 OpenBSD Foundation