What Erlang Ecosystem Foundation does

The Erlang Ecosystem Foundation (EEF) is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization incorporated in California on February 14, 2019, that supports the BEAM ecosystem encompassing Erlang, Elixir, LFE, Gleam, and related languages. It operates a community-led model with over 1,000 members, 13+ active working groups (covering Build and Packaging, Education, Embedded, Security, Observability, Machine Learning, Language Interoperability, and others), and a sponsorship program anchored by Ericsson, Dashbit, Mainmatter, Erlang Solutions, DNSimple, EMQ, Shiguredo, HCA Healthcare, and Herrmann Ultraschall. Its core products are community infrastructure: a Working Groups program, a stipends program funding open source development and events, a Membership program (free Basic, $99/year Annual, $999 Lifetime), and a tiered Corporate Sponsorship program scaled to company revenue ($2K-$10K per year). It also operates a globally top-ranked CVE Numbering Authority (CNA) for BEAM projects, the Ægis supply chain security and compliance initiative aligned to EU CRA and NIST SSDF, and achieved OpenChain certification for Erlang and Elixir. The foundation is governed by 11 at-large directors elected by voting members and led operationally by President Alistair Woodman, Secretary Sebastian Strollo, and CISO Jonatan Männchen (the foundation's first CISO hire in 2025). Geographically, EEF is headquartered in San Francisco with active member and sponsor presence in EMEA (Sweden, Germany) and Asia Pacific (Japan).

Name

Erlang Ecosystem Foundation

Legal name

Erlang Ecosystem Foundation

Website

https://erlef.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Erlang Ecosystem Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit supporting the BEAM open source ecosystem (Erlang, Elixir, LFE, Gleam) through working groups, stipends, events, a globally top-ranked CVE Numbering Authority, and the Ægis supply chain security initiative, funded by tiered corporate sponsorships and individual memberships.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Open Source Software Foundation (BEAM Ecosystem)

NAICS

Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations (813)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Enterprise & Workplace Communities (BPAMABAJ)

Keywords

• Open source foundation
• BEAM ecosystem support
• Programming language community
• Vulnerability disclosure services
• Working group coordination

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Membership Fees: Annual Supporting Membership at $99/year or Lifetime Supporting Membership at $999 (one-time fee). Basic Membership is free. Members contribute to foundation activities and gain voting rights.
2. Sponsorship: Sponsors contribute minimum $1,999/year (or lifetime membership fee) to the foundation. Sponsorship tiers are based on company revenue: $1M+ revenue pays $2,000/year; $1M-$5M pays $5,000/year; $5M+ pays $10,000/year. Sponsors support working groups, community events, stipends, and open source projects.
3. Donations: Individual and corporate donations accepted. Donations support foundation activities, working groups, and community initiatives.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The Erlang Ecosystem Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that supports the BEAM (Erlang, Elixir, LFE, Gleam) programming language ecosystem. It coordinates the community through 13+ sponsored Working Groups, a tiered membership program, tiered corporate sponsorship program, and a stipends program funding open source development and training. Its operational offerings also include a CVE Numbering Authority for vulnerability disclosure and the Ægis Initiative for supply chain security and compliance.

Product overview

The Erlang Ecosystem Foundation is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization supporting over 1,000 members who participate in its collaborative Working Group model. The foundation's portfolio consists of community infrastructure programs (Working Groups, Membership, Sponsorships, Stipends), security initiatives (CNA for CVE numbering, Æpis supply chain security initiative), and event coordination. The Working Groups Program is the central organizing structure, addressing areas including Build and Packaging, Education, Embedded Systems, Security, Language Interoperability, Observability, Machine Learning, Libraries and Frameworks, and Marketing. The CNA (CVE Numbering Authority) provides authoritative CVEs and coordinated vulnerability disclosure for BEAM projects. The Ægis Initiative focuses on supply chain security, compliance (EU CRA, NIST SSDF), and OpenChain certification. The Stipends Program funds open source development and training, while the Sponsorship and Membership Programs provide financial sustainability. Events include CodeBEAM Europe, Erlang Workshop, ElixirConf, and various community meetups.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Erlang Ecosystem Foundation CNA: A collaborative effort to assign and maintain CVE identifiers within the BEAM ecosystem, providing a consistent and transparent process for reporting, documenting, and mitigating security vulnerabilities.
• Ægis Initiative

Products and services

• CNA (CVE Numbering Authority) A collaborative effort that assigns and maintains CVE identifiers within the BEAM ecosystem, providing a consistent and transparent process for reporting, documenting, and mitigating security vulnerabilities for packages hosted on Hex.pm and projects under specified GitHub organizations. Top-ranked on the global CNA scoreboard and publishes all CVEs to OSV.dev.
• Ægis Initiative A comprehensive supply chain security and compliance initiative for the BEAM ecosystem that elevates ecosystem-wide security posture, streamlines compliance readiness for EU CRA and NIST SSDF, fosters trust through transparency logs and verifiable package provenance, and democratizes advanced security tools for smaller teams.
• Working Groups Program A collaborative model where EEF sponsors independent Working Groups to solve specific challenges faced by BEAM technology users. 13+ groups cover Build and Packaging, Education/Training/Adoption, Embedded, EPC, Fellowship, Infrastructure, Language Interoperability, Observability, Machine Learning, Security, Libraries and Frameworks, Marketing, and Sponsorship.
• Stipends Program A funding program that supports open source development, trainings, workshops, and other initiatives to increase and expand the BEAM community. Funded by sponsors, membership fees, and donations, with current focus on beneficiaries new to Erlang/Elixir, online workshops, training materials, and diversity efforts.
• Corporate Sponsorship Program A tiered corporate sponsorship program where companies contribute minimum annual fees scaled by company revenue: $1M+ revenue = $2,000/year minimum; $1M–$5M = $5,000/year minimum; $5M+ = $10,000/year minimum. Sponsors receive logo placement on the website and recognition at conferences and in communications.
• Membership Program A membership program offering Basic Membership (free), Annual Supporting Membership ($99/year), and Lifetime Supporting Membership ($999) with benefits including meeting attendance, Slack workspace access, voting rights on resolutions, and erlef.org email addresses.
• Community Events and Conferences Foundation-organized and sponsored events including CodeBEAM Europe, Erlang Workshop, ElixirConf US, Goatmire, ExMex Conf, and various meetups worldwide. Events feature hands-on workshops, lightning talks, unconferences, and community gatherings.

Quantifiable outcome

• Top-ranked CNA globally for CVEs in BEAM ecosystem
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• OW2 ConsortiumminorOthersOW2 is an independent consortium listed as an Associate Organization of the EEF. OW2 is a global open source software community focused on middleware and infrastructure projects.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Apache Software Foundation: The Apache Software Foundation provides vendor-neutral governance for hundreds of open-source projects, supported by corporate sponsors and a member-elected board. It is comparable to the EEF in its non-profit, member-driven model for stewarding an open-source ecosystem, though it serves a much broader set of projects.
• OpenSSF (Linux Foundation): OpenSSF is a Linux Foundation initiative focused on improving open-source software supply chain security through funding, tooling, and working groups. It is comparable to EEF's Ægis Initiative in addressing supply chain security, OpenChain compliance, and SBOM/provenance work, but operates as a cross-ecosystem player with substantially more resources.
• Mozilla Foundation: The Mozilla Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit supporting the Firefox browser and broader open web through grants, advocacy, and community programs. It is comparable to EEF as a mission-driven non-profit with corporate sponsors and a member/volunteer base, though Mozilla's focus is web standards and privacy rather than a programming language.
• Eclipse Foundation: The Eclipse Foundation is a non-profit that supports working groups, projects, and an open-source ecosystem with corporate membership and member-driven governance. It is comparable to EEF in its working-group-driven operating model and corporate sponsorship tiers, though it covers a much broader portfolio of projects.
• OpenJS Foundation: The OpenJS Foundation, under the Linux Foundation, supports JavaScript projects like Node.js and jQuery through corporate membership, working groups, and event sponsorship. It is comparable to EEF as a foundation-led model for coordinating open-source language ecosystems, though it operates at significantly larger scale and budget.
• Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF): The CNCF is a larger open-source foundation under the Linux Foundation that hosts and supports cloud-native projects through working groups, events (KubeCon), and corporate sponsorship. It is comparable to the EEF as a foundation-driven model for coordinating an ecosystem of developers, sponsors, and projects, but at vastly greater scale and budget.

Emerging players

• Elixir-lang (community / creator-controlled): The Elixir-lang community is the upstream creator-led initiative for Elixir, focused on language development, documentation, and community events. It is comparable to EEF as a focal point for Elixir community coordination, but lacks the foundation structure, corporate sponsorship tiers, and compliance/security infrastructure that EEF provides.

Direct peers

• Rust Foundation: The Rust Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that supports the Rust programming language through corporate sponsorships, project grants, and event coordination. It is comparable to EEF as a language-focused non-profit with tiered corporate sponsorship and a focus on supporting infrastructure, security, and community initiatives for a single language ecosystem.
• Python Software Foundation: The PSF is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that supports the Python programming language community through working groups, sponsorships, grants, and events like PyCon. It is the closest analog to EEF in being a language-specific non-profit foundation with a member-elected board, corporate sponsorships, and community-driven working groups.
• OWASP Foundation: OWASP is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that coordinates community-driven security standards, vulnerability disclosure, and educational projects for software security practitioners. It is comparable to EEF's CNA and Security Working Group initiatives, and both foundations operate CVE-adjacent programs and security working groups on member-supported models.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/erlef

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Erlang Ecosystem Foundation