Foldit
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2008
- HeadquartersSeattle, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingSoftware
Foldit firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Foldit
- Legal name
- Foldit
- Website
- https://fold.it
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2008
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where Foldit is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Seattle
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Foldit business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Operations
Revenue model
- Free Platform (Not Revenue-Generating): Foldit is a free research platform supported by grants and institutional funding. The platform does not generate revenue from players but operates as a crowdsourced scientific research tool.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Pay-as-you-go | Free Access - No payment required |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels4 records
Foldit product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Foldit is a free, downloadable crowdsourcing computer game in which players manipulate protein structures and design small molecules to solve biochemistry puzzles. Player solutions are captured as research data that contribute to peer-reviewed studies on protein structure prediction and novel therapeutic design. The platform integrates the Rosetta molecular modeling suite, AlphaFold prediction models, and player-authored Lua scripts to support ongoing scientific work led by the University of Washington's Center for Game Science.
Product overview
Foldit is a single, unified crowdsourcing computer game platform for scientific research. The core product is the Foldit game, which allows players to solve protein folding puzzles. The platform includes integrated features for puzzles (scientific challenges), leaderboards (competitive rankings), recipes (Lua-based scripting automation), translations (multilingual support), and a Compound Library (chemical database for small molecule design). The product has been operational for over 18 years, with regular software releases updating the client.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Foldit Game A free, downloadable computer game that lets individual players fold proteins, design small molecules, and reconstruct electron density maps to contribute to biochemistry research, primarily built and maintained for citizen scientists and academic collaborators.
Companies that use Foldit
Customer profileSegments2 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Foldit technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability5 records
Feature5 records
Foldit partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- Center for Game Science (University of Washington)corePrimary development partner hosting the Center for Game Science at University of Washington. Responsible for game design, platform development, and research coordination.
- Institute for Protein Design (University of Washington)coreAcademic research partner specializing in computational protein design. Provides scientific direction and research questions for Foldit puzzles.
- Cooper Lab (Northeastern University)coreResearch lab contributing scientific expertise and research challenges to the Foldit platform.
- Khatib Lab (University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth)coreAcademic partner providing protein design challenges and scientific validation for Foldit research outcomes.
- Siegel Lab (University of California, Davis)coreResearch collaboration for protein structure studies and drug discovery applications.
- Meiler Lab (Vanderbilt University)coreComputational chemistry and structural biology research partner contributing to Foldit scientific objectives.
- Horowitz Lab (University of Denver)coreAcademic research partner contributing to protein science research through the Foldit platform.
- RosettaCommonscoreSoftware consortium providing the Rosetta molecular modeling suite that underlies Foldit's protein analysis tools.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Foldit competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- EteRNA: Citizen science puzzle game from Carnegie Mellon that crowdsources RNA design, using analogous game mechanics and player-driven design challenges for molecular biology — directly comparable methodology to Foldit.
- Eyewire: Citizen science game from Princeton's Seung Lab that crowdsources neural connectome reconstruction via puzzle gameplay — directly comparable game-based crowdsourcing for biomedical discovery.
- Rosetta@home: BOINC-based distributed computing project from the Baker lab (Institute for Protein Design) that uses donated CPU/GPU cycles for protein structure prediction and design — same protein design mission and overlapping institutional ecosystem as Foldit.
- Quantum Moves: Citizen science game from Aarhus University that crowdsources solutions to quantum physics optimization problems — directly comparable human-computation gaming methodology applied to scientific discovery.
- Phylo: Citizen science puzzle game from McGill University for DNA multiple sequence alignment — directly comparable citizen-science gaming approach for computational biology.
- Folding@home: Distributed computing project at Washington University in St. Louis (also linked to UW) that crowdsources protein folding simulations — directly comparable citizen-science crowdsourcing for protein structure, though compute-based rather than human-puzzle-based.
- Zooniverse: Largest citizen science platform, founded at the University of Oxford, hosting dozens of crowdsourced research projects across disciplines — directly comparable citizen-science infrastructure and volunteer-driven research model.
- Stall Catchers: Citizen science game from Human Computation Institute (Cornell) crowdsourcing Alzheimer's research via video analysis — comparable volunteer-driven game-based biomedical research platform.
Emerging players
- SeaChange: Tabletop and online puzzle games aimed at citizen-science-like engagement; overlaps with Foldit's gamified science approach though narrower in scientific depth.
Broad incumbents
- Isomorphic Labs: Alphabet/DeepMind spinoff commercializing AI-driven drug discovery, including protein structure and design models that compete with Foldit's protein folding mission — broader, well-capitalized incumbent in adjacent territory.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Foldit social profiles
Digital presenceFoldit financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Foldit leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Foldit funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Foldit 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 Foldit
What does Foldit do?
Foldit is a free, downloadable crowdsourcing computer game in which players manipulate protein structures and design small molecules to solve biochemistry puzzles. Player solutions are captured as research data that contribute to peer-reviewed studies on protein structure prediction and novel therapeutic design. The platform integrates the Rosetta molecular modeling suite, AlphaFold prediction models, and player-authored Lua scripts to support ongoing scientific work led by the University of Washington's Center for Game Science.
Is Foldit a public or private company?
Foldit is a private company. It is classified as unknown and is currently operating.
When was Foldit founded?
Foldit was founded in 2008. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Foldit based?
Foldit is headquartered in Seattle, United States, in the North America region.
How does Foldit make money?
One revenue line is on record: free Platform (Not Revenue-Generating).
Who are Foldit's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are EteRNA, Eyewire, Rosetta@home, Quantum Moves, Phylo, Folding@home, Zooniverse and Stall Catchers. SeaChange is listed as an emerging player. Isomorphic Labs is listed as a broad incumbent.
Does Foldit have an API?
No public API is recorded for Foldit.