Airtable
Company History
Airtable History: Founding, Growth & Key Milestones
Founded 2012 in San Francisco, California
When was Airtable founded?
Airtable was founded in 2012 in San Francisco, California by Howie Liu, Andrew Ofstad and Emmett Nicholas, making it 14 years old.
- Founded
- 2012
- Founding place
- San Francisco, California
- Founders
- Howie Liu, Andrew Ofstad and Emmett Nicholas
- Headquarters today
- San Francisco, California, United States
- Milestones documented
- 14 (2012–2026)
- Current CEO
- Howie Liu
- Acquisitions
- 3
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 2012 | Company founded |
| 2015 | Airtable product launched |
| 2018 | Series C establishes unicorn valuation |
| 2021 | Series E funding |
| 2021 | Bayes acquisition |
| 2021 | Interface Designer launch |
| 2021 | Series F funding |
| 2022 | Enterprise refocus and workforce reduction |
| 2023 | Second workforce reduction |
| 2024 | Cobuilder launch |
| 2024 | Dopt acquisition |
| 2025 | DeepSky acquisition and CTO appointment |
| 2026 | Bending Spoons acquisition announced |
| 2026 | Bending Spoons acquisition completed |
- Where was Airtable founded?
- Airtable was founded in San Francisco, California in 2012.
- Who founded Airtable?
- Airtable was founded by Howie Liu, Andrew Ofstad and Emmett Nicholas.
- When did Airtable start?
- Airtable was founded in 2012.
- How old is Airtable?
- Airtable is 14 years old as of 2026.
Founding Story
Howie Liu, Andrew Ofstad, and Emmett Nicholas met at Duke University and later started Airtable in 2012. Liu told the BBC that early investors had difficulty understanding the idea of making database capabilities accessible through a spreadsheet-like interface. Airtable launched its product publicly in 2015.
Founders
Howie Liu
Howie Liu co-founded Airtable in 2012 and served as CEO through its sale to Bending Spoons in 2026. The September 2026 closing announcement described him as an Airtable co-founder, not as its continuing CEO. (Exact birth year remains publicly undisclosed).
Andrew Ofstad
Andrew Ofstad co-founded Airtable in 2012. Recognizing that traditional spreadsheets were completely inadequate for managing complex relational data, he helped design Airtable's highly visual, user-friendly interface. As a product visionary, he ensured the platform remained simple enough for non-technical users while possessing the backend power of a true relational database. (Exact birth year remains publicly undisclosed).
Emmett Nicholas
Emmett Nicholas co-founded Airtable alongside Howie Liu and Andrew Ofstad. He built the foundational architecture of the platform's real-time collaboration engine, allowing massive teams to simultaneously edit complex databases without data corruption or latency, a critical feature that allowed Airtable to replace legacy enterprise software. (Exact birth year remains publicly undisclosed).
Key Milestones
Airtable product launched
Airtable launched its collaborative database product publicly.
Source: airtable.comSeries C establishes unicorn valuation
Airtable raised $100 million at a reported $1.1 billion valuation.
Source: techcrunch.comSeries E funding
Airtable raised $270 million at a $5.77 billion post-money valuation.
Source: airtable.comBayes acquisition
Airtable acquired the Bayes team and assets for data visualization and reporting work.
Source: airtable.comInterface Designer launch
Airtable introduced Interface Designer for building interactive front ends on Airtable workflows.
Source: airtable.comSeries F funding
Airtable raised $735 million, bringing total investment to $1.36 billion at an $11 billion pre-money valuation.
Source: airtable.comEnterprise refocus and workforce reduction
Airtable shifted resources toward large enterprise customers and reduced its team by 254 employees.
Source: airtable.comSecond workforce reduction
Airtable reduced its team by 237 employees while continuing its enterprise focus.
Source: airtable.comCobuilder launch
Airtable launched Cobuilder, which generates customizable no-code applications from natural-language descriptions.
Source: airtable.comDopt acquisition
Airtable acquired AI-powered onboarding platform Dopt and moved its team into Airtable's AI organization.
Source: airtable.comDeepSky acquisition and CTO appointment
Airtable acquired AI research product DeepSky and appointed former OpenAI leader David Azose as chief technology officer.
Source: reworked.coBending Spoons acquisition announced
Bending Spoons agreed to acquire Airtable for $1.285 billion in enterprise value and disclosed approximately $480 million in ARR as of June 2026.
Source: investors.bendingspoons.comBending Spoons acquisition completed
Bending Spoons acquired 100% of Airtable's outstanding shares on September 4, 2026.
Source: investors.bendingspoons.comMajor Acquisitions
Bayes team and assets
2021Add data visualization and reporting expertise.
Dopt
2024Add AI-driven no-code user activation and product growth expertise.
DeepSky
2025Add an AI research and analysis agent product and team.
Keep researching Airtable
Airtable Company History FAQ
When was Airtable founded?
Howie Liu, Andrew Ofstad, and Emmett Nicholas started Airtable in 2012, and the product launched publicly in 2015.
When did Bending Spoons acquire Airtable?
Bending Spoons announced the agreement on August 4, 2026 and completed the acquisition on September 4, 2026.
When was Airtable created?
Airtable was founded in 2012 by Howie Liu, Andrew Ofstad, and Emmett Nicholas to make relational databases as easy to use as a basic Excel spreadsheet.
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