Lektorium

What Lektorium does

Lektorium (ООО «Лекториум») is a privately held Russian online education company founded in 2009 by Yakov Somov and headquartered in Saint Petersburg. The company operates an Open edX-based MOOC platform at lektorium.tv hosting 220+ free courses and more than 6,000 Russian-language video lectures, serving approximately 780,000 registered learners across disciplines including IT, history, business, art, foreign languages, health, and neural networks. Its technology stack includes a customized Open edX deployment, a proprietary 'multiskript' video format that synchronizes video with timestamped searchable transcripts, and three in-house video studios in Moscow and St. Petersburg for content production.

The business operates a freemium model: the majority of catalog content is free to audit, while paid certificates (typically 1,800–3,900 RUB) and a 6,000 RUB all-access subscription unlock certification and assignments. Beyond the consumer platform, Lektorium runs a publishing house (Издательство Лекториум) that produces MOOCs on contract for universities, schools, museums, and corporate partners — including distribution on Coursera, Iversity, and the Russian Open Education platform — and offers Eduardo (eduardo.studio), a course-authoring tool for third-party instructors. Additional revenue comes from bespoke corporate training (including neural network intensives at 7,500–30,000 RUB) and video production services.

Lektorium has built partnerships with 40+ core universities (NSU, ITMO, HSE, TSU, SPbPU, Samara, LETI, Lyceum 239), 100+ production partners, and Russian government bodies including the Ministry of Education and Science. Its market posture is content-led and explicitly anti-advertising — the company states it invests all resources in content creation rather than paid marketing. Branded sub-products include the Georgy Volfson School of Mathematics (15,000+ learners) and the Mediagrants program (patron-funded free lecture production for budget educational organizations). The company is founder-led, profitable-style, and privately financed without disclosed institutional investors.

Name

Lektorium

Legal name

Obshchestvo s ogranichennoy otvetstvennostyu «Lektorium» (ООО «Лекториум»)

Website

https://lektorium.tv

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Lektorium is a Russian online education company operating since 2009 an Open edX-based MOOC platform with 220+ free courses, 6,000+ Russian-language video lectures, and ~780,000 registered learners, supplemented by a MOOC publishing house, three video studios, and corporate training services for universities, businesses, and lifelong learners.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Online Education Platform (MOOC)

NAICS

Other Schools and Instruction (6116), Educational Support Services (61171), Business Schools and Computer and Management Training (6114)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

MOOC & Open Course Platforms (EDAFAIAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Online Learning Content & Course Publishing Platforms (BPAMAJAL), Open Courseware & Course Modules (OCW) (EDAGAJAB), Open Multimedia OER (video, audio, podcasts, animations) (EDAGAJAF), Open Educational Resources (OER) & Open Access Academic Publishing (MPAJABAG)

Keywords

• Online education platform
• MOOC publishing services
• Educational video production
• Corporate training programs
• Digital learning content

Headquarters

HQ city

Chelyabinsk

HQ country

Russia

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Course Certification and Paid Course Access: Lektorium generates revenue by offering paid access to course materials and certification. Most courses are free to audit; paid tiers (typically 1,800–3,900 RUB) unlock assignments, certification, and in some cases extended access. Subscription access to all courses is available for 6,000 RUB. The majority of the catalog remains free.
2. Corporate Training: Lektorium offers bespoke in-person and online corporate training programs for businesses, adapting curricula to specific company needs. Neural network intensives range from 7,500 to 30,000 RUB depending on the package.
3. MOOC Production for Partners: Lektorium acts as a digital publishing house, producing custom MOOCs for universities, museums, government bodies, and companies. Courses are placed on Lektorium's platform and/or on Coursera, Iversity, and Open Education. Revenue comes from production fees paid by institutional partners.
4. Video Production Services: Lektorium offers studio and on-location video production and live streaming services to external clients.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Lektorium operates an Open edX-based online learning platform (lektorium.tv) that hosts 220+ free courses and 6,000+ video lectures for individual learners, with paid certification access and a full-catalog subscription. The company also runs a MOOC publishing house that produces courses on contract for universities, museums, and corporations, supported by three in-house video studios and the Eduardo course-authoring platform.

Product overview

Lektorium is an online education ecosystem consisting of a core MOOC platform (lektorium.tv) built on Open edX infrastructure, a proprietary publishing house (Издательство Лекториум) that produces over 100 MOOC projects for universities and companies, a media library (Медиатека) with over 6,000 free Russian-language video lectures, an educational center for in-person training, video production services, and the Eduardo platform for third-party course creation. The ecosystem is complemented by branded course schools (e.g., Georgy Volfson's School of Mathematics) and specific named courses across IT, history, business, art, languages, health, and AI/neural networks. Over 220 courses are available on the platform with approximately 780,000 registered learners.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Eduardo: Open edX-based platform for creating and launching online courses, providing tools and technical support for educators and organizations
• Mediagrants (Медиагранты)
• Geofrgiy Vol'fson School of Mathematics (Школа математики Георгия Вольфсона)

Products and services

• Lektorium MOOC Platform (Платформа Лекториум) Open edX-based online learning platform hosting 220+ free courses and 6,000+ video lectures for approximately 780,000 learners, with self-serve registration, paid certification access, and a full-catalog subscription offering.
• Lektorium Publishing House (Издательство Лекториум) Digital publishing service that designs and produces MOOCs on contract for universities, schools, museums, and corporate clients, with portfolio of 100+ projects and distribution via Coursera, Iversity, Open Education, and the Lektorium platform.
• Lektorium Media Library (Медиатека) The largest open video archive of educational lectures in the Russian language, with 6,000+ free lectures accessible to the public and administration of the Mediagrants program supporting budget educational organizations.
• Eduardo Course Constructor (Конструктор курсов на платформе Eduardo) Standalone course-authoring platform for university instructors, tutors, business trainers, and organizations to create and launch their own online courses, with training, tools, and technical support from Lektorium.
• Video Production Services (Видеосъемка) Studio and on-location video production services including live streaming of lectures and events, backed by three fully equipped in-house video studios in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, offered to external clients.
• Educational Center / In-Person Training (Образовательный центр) In-person training programs that teach external participants how to produce MOOCs and build on the Open edX platform, developing the online education professional community.
• School of Mathematics by Georgy Volfson (Школа математики Георгия Вольфсона) Branded school of online mathematics courses for schoolchildren, teachers, and parents using Georgy Volfson's author approach, covering Olympiad mathematics, Non-Boring Algebra, Non-Boring Geometry, Probability Theory, and similar topics. Over 15,000 learners have taken the school's courses.
• Corporate Neural Network Training (Корпоративное обучение нейросетям) Bespoke in-person and online intensive programs on neural networks for corporate teams, with curriculum adapted to specific business tasks, held in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, priced 7,500 to 30,000 RUB depending on package.
• Basics of Special Effects Makeup (Основы пластического грима) Branded online course teaching special-effects makeup techniques from facial mold casting to final character look, with 32 lessons in a professional makeup studio, instructor chat, and certification.
• Logic and Mathematics (Логика и математика) Online course teaching adults logical problem-solving, combinatorics, and reasoning techniques through examples from finance, planning, and organization, authored by popular mathematics educator Georgy Volfson.
• I Want to Paris (Хочу в Париж) Cultural-immersion online course on French culture, art, and Parisian life covering history, neighborhoods, museums, cafes, and artistic life, taught by linguist and art historian Elizaveta Petrova.
• Sketching for Beginners (Скетчинг для начинающих) Online course teaching sketching with alcohol-based markers across botanical, architectural, interior, food, and travel illustration, with 24 lessons and curator-reviewed practical assignments.
• Portrait Photography (Портретная фотография) Online course teaching portrait photography techniques including studio and outdoor shooting, working with models, equipment, lighting, and photo editing, authored by Union of Photo Artists member Anton Unitsyn, with 37 lessons across 10 modules.

Quantifiable outcome

• 780,000 registered learners on the platform
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability1 record

Feature3 records

Partnerships

19 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Novosibirsk State University (NSU)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNSU is a leading research university and one of Lektorium's key partners for MOOC production. Courses developed by NSU faculty are published on the Lektorium platform. NSU logo appears on the partner section of the homepage.
• ITMO UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerITMO University collaborates with Lektorium on MOOC production and publishing. ITMO's logo appears prominently on the homepage partner section.
• Presidential Physics and Mathematics Lyceum No. 239coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLyceum No. 239 in Saint Petersburg, a prestigious Russian STEM school, partners with Lektorium on educational content production. Its logo appears on the homepage partner section.
• RosneftminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerRosneft is listed as a partner organization on Lektorium's homepage, supporting educational initiatives. The nature of cooperation is not detailed beyond the logo placement.
• University 2035minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerUniversity 2035 is a partner organization listed on Lektorium's homepage, cooperating on educational initiatives.
• Kruzhok.orgminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerKruzhok.org is listed as a partner organization on Lektorium's homepage, cooperating on educational initiatives for youth and extracurricular learning.
• Tomsk State University (TSU)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTSU is a long-standing partner producing multiple MOOCs published on the Lektorium platform. The course 'Genius. Giftedness. Mediocrity' was co-produced and launched simultaneously in Russian on Lektorium and in English on Iversity.
• Saint Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSPbPU collaborated with Lektorium to produce the course 'Astrophysics: From Stars to the Borders of the Universe,' which required NASA, ESA, and Max Planck Institute clearances for scientific imagery.
• Samara National Research UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSamara University partnered with Lektorium to produce multiple MOOCs, including courses on photography and aviation engineering.
• Saint Petersburg Electrotechnical University LETIcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLETU (ЛЭТИ) partnered with Lektorium to produce the course 'Fundamentals of Successful Business Communication' (108 hours, with webinar participation).
• Higher School of Economics (HSE)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHSE is a leading Russian university that partners with Lektorium for MOOC production and publishing on the platform.
• Kunstkamera (Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLektorium collaborated with the Kunstkamera museum and 'Bumagi' publication on a special video project ('Kunstkamera Y'), involving on-location filming in museum storage areas.
• Kaspersky LabminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerKaspersky Lab is listed as a partner supporting educational initiatives on Lektorium's platform.
• CourseracoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCoursera is a major international MOOC platform where Lektorium publishes its courses. The first course (Bioinformatics by Pavel Pevzner, UC San Diego) was produced by Lektorium and hosted on Coursera in 2013, gathering 35,000+ learners.
• IversitycoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorIversity is a European MOOC platform where Lektorium publishes its courses, enabling international reach beyond Russian-speaking audiences.
• Open Education (openedu.ru)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorThe Russian national Open Education platform distributes Lektorium-produced MOOCs as part of the open education ecosystem.
• Open Education ConsortiumminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLektorium is a member of the Open Education Consortium, an international association supporting open education approaches, open licensing, and quality standards for MOOCs.
• Russian Ministry of Education and SciencecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation collaborates with Lektorium on MOOC production and publishing, lending institutional endorsement to the platform.
• Novosibirsk State University of Architecture and Design (NSUADI)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNSUADI partnered with Lektorium to produce the course 'Sketching for Beginners,' with the institution's logo appearing on the course page.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Regional players

• Iversity: Iversity is a European online course and MOOC platform. It is comparable because Lektorium publishes courses through Iversity and similarly focuses on distributing structured online courses from academic and expert creators.
• Netology: Netology is a Russian online education provider focused on digital, business, and professional skills courses. It is comparable as a regional online learning platform serving Russian-speaking professionals and enterprises, overlapping with Lektorium's paid professional and corporate training use cases.

Broad incumbents

• Khan Academy: Khan Academy provides free online educational videos, exercises, and learning resources at global scale. It is comparable to Lektorium's open-access educational video library and mission of making knowledge broadly accessible, though it is nonprofit and less focused on MOOC certificates.
• edX: edX is a global online learning platform offering university and professional courses, certificates, and degree pathways. It is comparable to Lektorium's MOOC delivery and certification model, but operates at much broader global scale.
• FutureLearn: FutureLearn is a UK-based MOOC platform that distributes university and professional courses to global learners. It is comparable through its institutional-course marketplace model and certificate-based monetization.
• Coursera: Coursera is a global MOOC and online credential platform partnering with universities and companies. It is comparable because Lektorium also distributes academic MOOCs and certificates online, though Coursera is a much larger global incumbent and a channel partner for Lektorium-produced courses.
• Udemy: Udemy is a global marketplace for online courses from individual instructors and organizations. It is broader and more creator-led than Lektorium, but competes for self-serve learner attention and paid course spending.

Direct peers

• Stepik: Stepik is a Russian online learning and MOOC platform offering self-serve courses, certificates, and course-creation tools, especially in STEM and programming. It is highly comparable because it serves Russian-speaking online learners through a scalable course platform with free and paid education content.
• Universarium: Universarium is a Russian MOOC platform offering online courses from universities and experts. It is comparable as a Russian-language open course platform serving self-directed learners with institution-backed educational content.
• Open Education: Open Education is a Russian national MOOC platform focused on university-created online courses. It directly overlaps with Lektorium's university MOOC distribution and Russian-language open online education model, and is also one of Lektorium's distribution channels.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/OpenLektorium
• Xx.com/lektorium
• Facebookfacebook.com/openlektorium
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/lektorium-tv

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Subsidiaries4 records

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 Lektorium