99designs was founded by Matt Mickiewicz and Mark Harbottle as a spin-off of SitePoint, a website started in 1998 as a forum for web developers and designers. Designers on its forums began organizing contests based on fictional client briefs.[5][6][7] The founders decided to test charging a fee to post briefs for real projects, eventually creating 99designs as a separate company for the contests.[5][8][9]
In 2008, the company opened a San Francisco office because the majority of the platform's initial clients and designers were in the United States.[10][11] It later moved its U.S. headquarters to Oakland, California.[4] By 2012, the site had 175,000 designers in 192 countries.[12] By 2016, it had about one million registered designers.[13] The platform was later redesigned to allow customers to directly search for and hire designers, outside of design competitions.[14][15][16]
In 2012, the company acquired a European competitor called 12designer, based in Germany.[12][17] Its office became the European headquarters of 99designs.[18] In 2013, the company acquired LogoChef, a Brazilian competitor.[19] In 2017, the company relocated back to Melbourne.[20][21]
The company was acquired in October 2020 by the American-Irish company Cimpress.[22]
Financials
In 2011, the company received US$35 million in financing from Accel Partners and other investors.[23][24][25] It subsequently raised another $10 million in 2015.[13][20]
The company became profitable in 2017,[14] and in February 2018, it reported $60 million a year in revenue.[20]
