The 10 Most Influential Education Companies

Image from Stanford Social Innovation Review 

According to Time magazine, these ten businesses have the biggest impact on education in 2026.

1. Khan Academy 

   Khan Academy is a non-profit educational organization used by 1.4 million users today. It was founded by Salman Khan in 2008 who initially created the software to tutor his cousin. Then he started uploading instructional videos on YouTube which helped many students around the world. It offers free, credible online learning resources like videos, interactive exercises and quizzes. Currently it has the Khanmigo feature – an AI powered tutor launched in partnership with OpenAI. Khan Academy plans to make changes to the platform for schools and utilize Khanmigo. 

2. Goodwill Industries International 

   Goodwill, a 125-year-old nonprofit that has benefited from the American secondhand culture expansion, is working rapidly to prepare people for a changing labor market by funding career centers and job-training programs through its owned stores. It offers paid training for entry-level positions in solar energy, EV charging, and other rapidly expanding industries. Currently operating in nine American locations, the initiative intends to expand to fifteen by the beginning of next year.Twenty percent of the program's more than 500 graduates have had an impact on justice. Additionally, 200,000 individuals will receive AI training thanks to a recent cooperation with Google.

3. Quizlet

   According to the company, one in two college students and two out of three high school students in the United States use Quizlet on a monthly basis. And this is not because a teacher assigned it, but because they decided to. With 60 million monthly users and over 900 million user-generated study sets, this kind of voluntary, student-driven adoption has turned the 20-year-old flashcard and quiz platform into something remarkable in edtech. Quizlet is perceived as a tool where kids actually learn.

4. MagicSchool AI 

   Lesson preparation, grading, and several other administrative duties can all be automated by MagicSchoolAI, an ed-tech platform that keeps teachers working less after the final bell. Adeel Khan, a former administrator and teacher, founded MagicSchool in 2023. With support for 98 languages, it currently runs in over 13,000 schools and districts in 173 countries. AI is already a standard in classrooms thanks to school systems like Chesapeake Public Schools in Virginia and Midway ISD in Texas. 

5. Efekta Education 

   Efekta is offering an adaptive English-learning platform to almost 4 million students in Latin America. In order to adapt courses to each student's pace and provide teachers with real-time data on who is failing and where, the system links classroom teachers with an AI teaching assistant. Time reports that Efekta is providing an adaptive English-learning platform to almost 4 million students throughout Latin America as part of what it claims is the largest AI-powered tutoring trial in the world. In order to adapt courses to each student's pace and provide teachers with real-time data on who is failing and where, the system links classroom teachers with an AI teaching assistant.

6. College Board 

   College Board is a non-profit organization that helps students with AP exams and utilizes online educational system. It provides standardized testing, assessments and financial aid. Its' Bluebook app was first used for online SAT testing in 2024. 

7. Squirrel AI Learning 

   Squirrel AI is an ed-tech company that provides a network of after-school learning facilities where an adaptable AI tutoring system identifies educational gaps and instantly adapts lessons based on each student's response. Students utilizing Squirrel Ai demonstrated noticeably higher learning gains in math than those in regular schools, according to a peer-reviewed study carried out with independent researchers from SRI International, a nonprofit research agency. 52 million students from 60,000 schools and learning facilities, primarily in Asia, were served by the platform last year. Now, Squirrel Ai is getting ready to launch in the United States in 2026.

8. Code.org

   Code.org offers a free, comprehensive and standards-aligned online learning platform in the field of computer science. It includes courses from elementary to high school that cover all areas related to programming and computer science. 

9. Coursera

   Coursera is a popular global online learning tool. It was founded in 2012 and partnered with over 300 top universities or industry leaders to provide users with courses, professional certificates and degrees. It is suitable for students and young professional looking to improve their skills in specific industries like business management or data science. 

   10. Turnitin 

   Turnitin is an online originality and plagiarism checker that has been widely used by schools and universities. It generates similarity report which checks plagiarism. It is also used to detect AI. This tool is used to ensure academic integrity and provide effective feedback. Turnitin's network includes 17,000 institutions and 71 million students in 185 countries.