Airtable is a

cloud collaboration Cloud collaboration is a method of sharing and co-authoring computer files via cloud computing, whereby documents are uploaded to a central "cloud" for storage, where they can then be accessed by other users. Cloud collaboration technologies allow ...

service headquartered in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. It was founded in 2012 by Howie Liu, Andrew Ofstad, and Emmett Nicholas. Airtable is a spreadsheet-database hybrid, with the features of a

database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases sp ...

but applied to a

spreadsheet A spreadsheet is a computer application for computation, organization, analysis and storage of data in tabular form. Spreadsheets were developed as computerized analogs of paper accounting worksheets. The program operates on data entered in cel ...

. The fields in an Airtable table are similar to cells in a spreadsheet, but have types such as 'checkbox', 'phone number', and 'drop-down list', and can reference file attachments like images. Users can create a database, set up column types, add

records A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

, link tables to one another,

collaborate Collaboration (from Latin ''com-'' "with" + ''laborare'' "to labor", "to work") is the process of two or more people, entities or organizations working together to complete a task or achieve a goal. Collaboration is similar to cooperation. Most ...

, sort records and publish views to external websites.

History

2015

* February 2015: Raised $3 million from Caffeinated Capital,

Freestyle Capital Freestyle Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm based in San Francisco, California.Yuliya Chernova"Seed Investor Freestyle Capital Churning Out Exits,"''The Wall Street Journal'', December 31, 2014. General Partners Dave Samuel and Jenny ...

, Data Collective, CrunchFund. * April 2015: Airtable launches its

API An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. It is a type of software Interface (computing), interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standa ...

and embedded databases. * May 2015: Raised $7.6 million funding from

Charles River Ventures Charles River Ventures (CRV) is a venture capital firm focused on early-stage investments in technology. The firm was founded in 1970 to commercialize research that came out of MIT. Its name comes from the Charles River. History The firm has rai ...

and

Ashton Kutcher Christopher Ashton Kutcher (; born February 7, 1978) is an American actor, producer, entrepreneur, and former model. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a People's Choice Award, and nominations for two Young Artist Awards, a S ...

. * July 2015: Introduced Airtable Forms to collect and organize data. * August 2015: Airtable made "Add to Slack" option available to integrate Airtable with Slack. * December 2015: Airtable redesigned its

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

app. * December 2015: Airtable introduced

barcode A barcode or bar code is a method of representing data in a visual, machine-readable form. Initially, barcodes represented data by varying the widths, spacings and sizes of parallel lines. These barcodes, now commonly referred to as linear or o ...

as new field type.

2018

* March 2018: Raised $52 million in Series B funding; announced the launch of Airtable Blocks. * November 2018: Raised $100 million in Series C funding.

2020

*September 2020: Raised $185 million in Series D funding.

2021

* March 2021: Raised $270 million in Series E funding; funding was led by Greenoaks and also included WndrCo, Caffeinated Capital, CRV, and Thrive. * December 2021: Airtable raised $735 million in a Series F funding round that boosted its valuation to $11 billion.

2022

* December 2022: Airtable CEO and co-founder Howie Liu informed employees that a fifth of them would be laid off, stating: “In trying to do too many things at once, we have grown our organization at a breakneck pace over the past few years....We will continue to emphasize growth, but do so by investing heavily in the levers that yield the highest growth relative to their cost.” Three months prior to this announcement, Liu purchased a $31 million house in Beverly Hills.

References

{{Task management software Cloud computing providers Software companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Software companies of the United States Software companies established in 2012 Software companies based in California Cloud applications 2012 establishments in California American companies established in 2012