2011-2014: Founding Kaleidos Open Source
The team behind Penpot founds Kaleidos Open Source, a software consultancy in Spain with a strong belief in open source.
2015-2018: Integrating Development and Design
Kaleidos brings designers in-house and focuses on integrating development and design. The company launches Taiga, an open-source agile project management tool that gains recognition worldwide.
During Kaleidos’s internal Personal Innovation Week (Piweek), the team experiments with new ideas and creates UXBOX, an early exploration of collaborative design tooling.
2019-2020: The Birth of Penpot
After years of experimentation that began with UXBOX during Piweek 2015, the team clearly identifies the need for a truly open source design and prototyping platform. Drawing on those early learnings, they begin shaping what would become Penpot, developing the first dedicated prototype and defining its vision as a tool built to bridge designers and developers.
February 2021: Penpot’s Public Launch
The platform is initially labeled as an alpha product upon its public launch.
2021: Seeding Penpot’s Early Community and Moving to Beta
Penpot’s early community is seeded, and the project receives public funding in Spain. The platform moves from Alpha to Beta in November, experiencing a surge in adoption and love.
2022: Securing Series A Investment
Penpot finds the right Series A partner in Decibel, who leads an $8M investment round. This marks the largest Series A for a Spanish open-source company to date.
January 2023: Penpot Is Officially Out of Beta
Throughout its evolution, the Penpot team has been dedicated to bridging the gap between developers and designers. Our efforts have resulted in a tool that is not only stable and feature-rich, but also backed by a supportive and engaged community.
February 2023: Raising $12M Series A+
Penpot secured $12 million in funding led by Decibel, marking a pivotal moment in its growth. With 250,000 users and over 20,000 GitHub stars - a 500% growth that positioned Penpot as a leading open-source design tool for designers and developers.
June 2023: Penpot Fest, the international event for designers and developers
Penpot hosted the first-ever Penpot Fest in Barcelona, bringing together the open-source community, including contributors from Blender, Godot, Fedora, GitLab, and Nextcloud. The event celebrated collaboration and innovation, reflecting Penpot’s mission to unite designers and developers.
April 2024: Penpot level up with 2.0 launch
The launch of Penpot 2.0 marked a milestone with transformative updates. Introducing a new component system, CSS Flex and Grid responsive layouts, and a refreshed user interface. This release demonstrated Penpot’s dedication to delivering a modern and powerful open-source design platform.
October 2024: New Plugin System
Penpot 2.3 introduced the brand new Plugins system, empowering developers and designers to enhance their workflow. With capabilities to add functionalities, integrate third-party services via Penpot’s API, and create custom tools, the release allowed endless possibilities for the community to shape Penpot into their ideal design tool.
April 2025: Design Tokens
Penpot 2.6/2.7 introduced native support for managing design tokens, adhering to W3C standards.
Sep 2025: Variants
Release 2.10 with Variants, you can group similar components (like buttons, icons, or toggles) into a single, customizable component. Instead of juggling multiple versions for every state, size, or style, you’ll manage them all in one unified place with clear, intuitive properties.
