Leaf

What Leaf does

Leaf is a US-registered 501(c)(3) non-profit that runs five-week, online, application-based courses for exceptional teenagers aged 15-19 (and gap-year students) across the UK and US. The organization draws an annual applicant pool of 3,000-4,000 and admits approximately 15% as Finalists into a cohort of 300+ students per summer, with about 1% progressing to extended Fellowship mentorship. Core products are four subject tracks — The Mathematics of Morality, Biology for a Better Tomorrow, Power Policy and Progress (formerly History to Shape History), and Dilemmas and Dangers in AI — supplemented by an "After Leaf" alumni program offering mentorship, project incubation, and referrals to partner organizations such as Non-Trivial, Global Challenges Project, Probably Good, New Roots Institute, Centre for Youth and AI, Kairos Project, and Operation Outbreak.

The platform is built on hosted Thinkific courseware (self-paced videos, quizzes, activities) plus a Discord community for peer interaction, with weekly synchronous discussion calls, expert Q&As, and small-group breakouts for Finalists. Admissions are entirely merit-based and use an internal critical and creative thinking puzzle assessment; the median accepted Finalist scores at the 97.5th percentile versus the general adult population. Programs are 100% online, with five hours per week of expected commitment.

The revenue model is a non-profit freemium/donation hybrid: most contributing families pay approximately £150 (UK) or $200 (US) per five-week course, while approximately 40% of participants attend entirely free. Free and subsidized access is funded primarily by Carina Initiatives, a grant-making foundation whose mission is to send more kids from more communities to the frontiers of science and technology, supplemented by donations from families who can pay more. The team of 53 employees is led by Managing Director Jonah Boucher (Harvard Graduate School of Education), with Programme Director Sam Smith drawing on prior roles at ERA Cambridge, BlueDot Impact, and Non-Trivial. Leaf is in process of a strategic entity merger with Non-Trivial to combine curriculum delivery with applied research project work.

Name

Leaf

Legal name

Leaf

Website

https://leaf.courses

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Leaf is a US 501(c)(3) non-profit that runs five-week, online, merit-based courses for exceptional teenagers aged 15-19 across four tracks — math, biology, policy, and AI — with sliding-scale tuition and a primary grant from Carina Initiatives.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Youth Online Education

NAICS

Educational Services (611), All Other Schools and Instruction (61169)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Youth-to-Adult Transition & Life Skills (Independent Living, Soft Skills) (EDAAAFAN)

Keywords

• Online education courses
• Youth learning programs
• University preparation services
• Non-profit education
• Merit-based admissions

Headquarters

HQ city

Online

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Sliding Scale Donations: Leaf operates a tiered tuition system where most families contribute around £150/$200 for the five-week course. The organization also offers subsidized access and fully free access for students who cannot pay, with no questions asked. About 40% of participants participate entirely for free.
2. Foundation Funding: Primary funding comes from Carina Initiatives, a grant-making foundation with the mission to send more kids from more communities to the frontiers of science and technology. Leaf is a US-registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Leaf runs five-week, 100% online cohort courses for talented teenagers aged 15-19 (and gap-year students) covering The Mathematics of Morality, Biology for a Better Tomorrow, Power Policy and Progress, and Dilemmas and Dangers in AI. Programs combine weekly live discussion calls, asynchronous videos/quizzes/activities, expert Q&As, mentorship, and university application support, followed by an After Leaf alumni track that provides individual mentorship, project incubation and funding, and referrals to selective follow-on programs. Admissions are entirely merit-based and delivered on a sliding-scale donation model with ~40% of participants attending for free.

Product overview

Leaf offers a suite of five-week online educational courses and fellowship programs for exceptional teenagers (ages 15-19) focused on preparing them to have a positive impact. The core products include four subject-specific courses—The Mathematics of Morality, Biology for a Better Tomorrow, Power Policy and Progress (formerly History to Shape History), and Dilemmas and Dangers in AI—all structured around Oxbridge/Ivy-style learning with 5 hours per week commitment. These courses are complemented by an After Leaf alumni program offering mentorship, project incubation, funding, and referral pathways to partner programs like Non-Trivial. The programs operate on a sliding-scale donation model, free for those who need it, with merit-based admissions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• The Mathematics of Morality A five-week online course exploring how students can use mathematics and quantitative careers to help others and multiply their positive impact, covering Bayes' theorem, expected value theory, and Fermi estimates. Targeted at exceptional teenagers aged 15-19 preparing for high-impact university studies and careers.
• Biology for a Better Tomorrow A five-week online course exploring how students can use biology to help others and improve the future, from morally-motivated medicine to revolutionary research, covering bioethics, biosecurity, and cultivated meat. Targeted at exceptional teenagers aged 15-19 with partner contributions from Oxford Biosecurity Group and High-Impact Medicine.
• Power, Policy, and Progress A five-week online course (formerly 'History to Shape History') exploring how students can use the lessons of history, politics, economics, and law to make a positive impact and steer humanity onto a better path. Targeted at exceptional teenagers aged 15-19 preparing for top-university admissions.
• Dilemmas and Dangers in AI An interdisciplinary five-week online fellowship helping students explore how to steer cutting-edge AI technology toward benefits for humanity, covering AI risks, alignment, and governance. Targeted at exceptional teenagers aged 15-19 interested in AI safety and policy careers.
• After Leaf Alumni Program Post-course support for Leaf alumni including individual mentorship, access to expert networks, fellowship opportunities, project incubation and funding, and an ongoing peer community through university and beyond. Targeted at graduates of Leaf's five-week courses.

Quantifiable outcome

• 97% of 300+ Finalists surveyed ranked 7/10 or above on likelihood to recommend the course; 35% said 10/10
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Non-TrivialcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNon-Trivial is a research program focused on helping young people tackle pressing global challenges. Leaf and Non-Trivial have historically been distinct organizations but work closely together and are in the process of a strategic entity merger. Leaf teaches students to connect academic interests to real impact; Non-Trivial helps put that learning into practice through carefully crafted research projects. Exceptional work in a Leaf course is one way to stand out in Non-Trivial applications.
• Oxford Biosecurity GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOxford Biosecurity Group supports the Biology for a Better Tomorrow course. Co-Founder Sofya Lebedeva serves as a speaker and expert contributor to the program. OBG focuses on biosecurity and pandemic prevention research.
• High-Impact MedicineminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHigh-Impact Medicine supports the Biology for a Better Tomorrow course. Clare Harris from High-Impact Medicine serves as a speaker, helping medical students and doctors increase their positive impact.
• Global Challenges ProjectminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPartner organization referral network for Leaf alumni, connecting graduates with additional opportunities for research and career development.
• Probably GoodminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSelective program referral partner for Leaf alumni. Probably Good provides research and career guidance resources used in Leaf curriculum.
• New Roots InstituteminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSelective program referral partner for Leaf alumni, connecting graduates with additional research and career development opportunities.
• Centre for Youth and AIminorGTM or Marketing PartnerReferral partner for Leaf alumni, helping youth connect with opportunities in AI research and careers.
• Kairos ProjectminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSelective program referral partner for Leaf alumni in the AI and technology space.
• Operation OutbreakminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSelective program referral partner for Leaf alumni focused on pandemic preparedness and biosecurity.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• 80,000 Hours: A career-guidance organization for people wanting to have high-impact careers, whose resources explicitly inform Leaf's curriculum. Comparable in EA movement origin and 'careers for impact' thesis, though 80,000 Hours targets graduates/professionals while Leaf targets pre-university teens.
• Constellation (Generator Fellowship): A community for technical leaders working on AI safety and other high-impact areas, including the Generator Fellowship referenced by Leaf's Programme Director. Comparable at the broader level of cultivating AI-safety talent pipelines; Constellation focuses on senior technologists where Leaf focuses on pre-university youth.

Direct peers

• Polygence: An online research mentorship platform pairing high school students with PhD researchers for project-based work. Directly comparable in serving motivated teens seeking rigorous academic enrichment beyond standard school curricula and in monetizing parental willingness to pay for premium, selective learning experiences.
• Pioneer Academics: An online research program allowing high schoolers to conduct college-level research with faculty mentors. Comparable to Leaf in selectively serving academically accomplished teens through intensive cohort-based programming and in leveraging resulting university placements as a marketing signal.
• The Knowledge Society (TKS): An accelerator program for ambitious teens focused on emerging technologies and high-impact ventures. Comparable to Leaf in targeting exceptional 15-19-year-olds for selective cohort-based programming, though TKS emphasizes entrepreneurship/tech rather than EA-ethics curriculum.
• BlueDot Impact: An organization running cohort-based courses (notably in AI governance) for professionals and motivated individuals. Comparable to Leaf in EA-ecosystem origins, cohort-based online course design, and focus on AI safety/ethics content—though serving an older, professional audience rather than teens.
• Inspirit AI: An AI-focused online program for high school students covering machine learning, ethics, and applications. Directly comparable because its AI curriculum, teen demographic, and selective cohort model overlap with Leaf's Dilemmas and Dangers in AI course, even though Inspireit's lens is more technical and less EA-philosophical.
• Lumi Education: An online program offering courses and 1:1 tutoring for gifted and motivated students seeking advanced academic challenge. Comparable to Leaf in targeting academically advanced teens with rigorous online courses and university-prep support, though Lumi's pricing model is tuition-based rather than sliding-scale.
• Non-Trivial: A research program for young people tackling pressing global challenges. Directly comparable to Leaf: the two organizations share overlapping EA-aligned missions, serve similar exceptional-teen and gap-year demographics, and are publicly in process of a strategic merger, making Non-Trivial Leaf's closest functional peer.

Emerging players

• Schoolhouse.world: A free online peer-tutoring platform connecting students globally with SAT/advanced subject tutors. Partial overlap with Leaf because it serves motivated high-achieving students in a digital, merit-friendly environment, though its offer (tutoring) and price model ($0 vs. sliding scale donation) differ materially.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/leafcourses

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 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 Leaf