Real Digital

What Real Digital does

Real Digital is a privately-held educational technology company headquartered in Pullman, Washington, that designs, manufactures, and distributes ARM + FPGA development boards paired with open courseware for university-level electrical and computer engineering education. The company's product portfolio spans six hardware platforms covering a range of price points and use cases: the Boolean Board (introductory digital logic, from $84), Blackboard (ZYNQ 7000 SoC for general ECE education, from $149), Urbana Board (Spartan-7 with Microblaze/RISC-V, from $169), AUP-ZU3 (high-performance ZYNQ UltraScale+ multicore ARM + FPGA, from $274 academic), RFSoC 4x2 (cutting-edge analog/digital systems for software-defined radio, 5G/6G, and radioastronomy, from $2,499), and the QICK System (a modular Quantum Instrument Control Kit for AMD's ZCU216 platform supporting up to 8 channels of 5GSPS acquisition and 16 channels of 10GSPS generation). All boards are built on AMD Xilinx ZYNQ and RFSoC silicon, and are used with Xilinx Vivado and SDK tools.

The company's business model is direct-to-consumer hardware unit sales through its own e-commerce site at realdigital.org, supplemented by retailer and distributor channels, with a dedicated academic pricing tier for verified students, faculty, and staff. Customer segments span first-semester university students learning digital design, students in microprocessor and embedded systems courses, advanced digital systems students exploring hardware/software co-design, and quantum computing researchers using the QICK system. The company complements its hardware with three free, open educational courses — Digital Logic, Microprocessors, and Digital Systems — designed as a progressive sequence reinforcing concepts through hands-on Verilog and FPGA projects. Real Digital also offers contract design, manufacturing, and distribution services for circuit boards, firmware, FPGA configurations, and reference materials, providing an additional service-revenue vector. The firm has 11-50 employees, operates exclusively in the US market, and has no disclosed funding rounds, parent company, or enterprise customer contracts.

Name

Real Digital

Legal name

Real Digital

Website

https://realdigital.org

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Real Digital is an educational technology company that designs ARM+FPGA development boards and provides free open courseware for university-level digital logic, microprocessor, and digital systems education, with extensions into quantum research instrumentation.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Educational FPGA Development Hardware

NAICS

Printed Circuit Assembly (Electronic Assembly) Manufacturing (334418)

SIC

Printed Circuit Boards (3672)

akta.pro primary industry

Motherboards & Chipset Platforms (HDACAGAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Makerspaces & Fab Labs (Open Build Studios) (EDAMADAC), PCB, Prototyping Boards & Etching Supplies Retail (CRACAKAF)

Keywords

• FPGA development boards
• ARM FPGA educational platforms
• Digital logic education hardware
• Embedded systems teaching kits
• Quantum instrument control

Headquarters

HQ city

Pullman

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Hardware Product Sales: One-time hardware sales of educational circuit boards, FPGA development platforms, and quantum control systems. Products include development boards, accessory modules, and complete system kits sold directly to customers.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Real Digital designs, manufactures, and sells ARM + FPGA development boards (Boolean Board, Blackboard, Urbana Board, AUP-ZU3, RFSoC 4x2, and the QICK modular quantum control kit) targeted at university engineering education and applied research. Each board is paired with structured, free and open course materials for digital logic, microprocessor, and digital systems design using Xilinx Vivado and SDK tooling. The company additionally offers contract design, manufacturing, and distribution services for boards, firmware, FPGA bitstreams, application software, and reference materials.

Product overview

Real Digital offers a portfolio of ARM + FPGA development boards for educational purposes, including the AUP-ZU3 Board (high-performance ZYNQ UltraScale+), RFSoC 4x2 (cutting-edge RF applications), Blackboard (general ECE education), Urbana Board (digital logic with Microblaze/RISC-V), Boolean Board (introductory digital logic), and the QICK System (modular quantum instrument control kit). These hardware products are complemented by comprehensive educational course materials covering Digital Logic, Microprocessors, and Digital Systems design, using Xilinx Vivado and SDK tools.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• AUP-ZU3 Board High-performance multicore ARM + FPGA development board featuring ZYNQ UltraScale+ XCZU3EG with 64-bit quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 and dual Cortex-R5F, 8 GB DDR4, dual USB3, DisplayPort, R-PI, Grove, and MIPI camera connectors. Targeted at advanced university engineering courses and high-performance teaching labs.
• RFSoC 4x2 Cutting-edge analog/digital systems development board featuring a ZYNQ Ultrascale+ Gen3 RFSoC with four 5 GSPS ADCs (6 GHz bandwidth) and two 9.85 GSPS DACs, plus 8 GB of 2400 MHz DDR4 and a QSFP+ port. Designed for software-defined radio, 5G/6G, and radioastronomy systems, and used with the QICK kit for quantum instrumentation.
• Blackboard ARM + FPGA development system designed for ECE education featuring a ZYNQ 7000 SoC, USB for power and programming, audio and video, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and abundant GPIO and on-board sensors. Used with the Digital Logic, Microprocessors, and Digital Systems courses.
• Urbana Board Board combining digital logic systems and embedded processor cores (Microblaze and RISC-V), featuring Spartan-7 XC7S50, 1 Gbit DDR3, USB for power and programming, audio and video, and abundant GPIO/expansion connectors. Designed for digital systems and embedded processor coursework.
• Boolean Board Entry-level educational platform for university digital logic design courses, featuring Spartan-7 XC7S50, USB for power and programming, audio and video, plus buttons, switches, LEDs, and a 7-segment display. Used with the "Digital Logic for the Boolean Board" course.
• QICK System Modular Quantum Instrument Control Kit designed for the AMD ZCU216 board, providing up to 8 channels of DC-to-5 GSPS signal acquisition and up to 16 channels of DC-to-10 GSPS signal generation for quantum experimentation and qubit control. Components are sold separately (RF216 main board and case, RF In, RF Out, DC In, DC Out, Balun In, Balun Out).

Quantifiable outcome

• Students able to design, simulate and implement combinational and sequential logic circuits using behavioral and/or structural Verilog
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• AMD (Advanced Micro Devices)coreTechnology or IntegrationReal Digital's products are built on AMD's ZYNQ and RFSoC platforms. The QICK system integrates with AMD's RFSoC evaluation boards (ZCU216, RFSoC 4x2) for quantum research applications.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Trenz Electronic: Trenz Electronic produces FPGA-based system-on-module and carrier board products including educational and industrial-grade FPGA platforms. Closely comparable in modular SoM and dev board offerings for university labs.
• Enclustra: Enclustra designs FPGA SoMs (SoC/UltraScale+) and supporting dev kits used in academic research and embedded product development. Operates in the same FPGA-based educational/research hardware segment as Real Digital.
• Digilent: Digilent designs and sells educational FPGA and microcontroller development boards (e.g., Basys, Nexys, Analog Discovery) used in the same university ECE courses as Real Digital. Closest direct competitor with overlapping boards, course kits, and academic pricing strategies.
• Terasic: Terasic manufactures Altera/Intel FPGA development kits (DE-series, Arrow) widely used in university digital logic and embedded systems courses. Competes for the same university procurement slots with comparable hardware platforms and curriculum partnerships.
• Opal Kelly: Opal Kelly builds FPGA integration modules and FrontPanel SDK tooling, serving academic and research users who need plug-in FPGA hardware for PCIe/USB applications. Comparable small-form-factor FPGA hardware targeting advanced users and research labs.

Emerging players

• Quantum Machines: Quantum Machines builds quantum orchestration and control platforms (OPX) for qubit research and is the closest commercial competitor to Real Digital's QICK system. Targets the same quantum-research buyer with higher-end instrumentation.

Broad incumbents

• AMD (formerly Xilinx): AMD/Xilinx supplies the ZYNQ and RFSoC silicon and evaluation boards around which Real Digital's entire product line is built. Though a partner rather than a direct competitor, AMD's own dev kits and university program create both an upstream dependency and an alternative source for end customers.
• National Instruments (NI / Emerson): National Instruments provides test, measurement, and educational hardware (including through its acquisition of Digilent) competing for lab budgets alongside Real Digital boards. Broad incumbent in university engineering curriculum tooling.
• Keysight Technologies: Keysight supplies RF and signal-integrity test instruments used in RFSoC, SDR, and 5G/6G coursework that overlaps with Real Digital's RFSoC 4x2 use cases. A broad incumbent that university ECE departments may purchase as an alternative or complement to Real Digital's boards.

Others

• Adafruit: Adafruit sells open-source educational electronics hardware and learning content to students and hobbyists — a peer in the hardware-plus-curriculum educational distribution model, though it targets a maker/microcontroller audience rather than FPGA-based digital systems learners.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

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 Real Digital