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TechQuiet 3d · day 3

Igalia marks 25 years as worker-owned open-source firm

The Spanish software company, founded without investors or managers, has grown to nearly 200 people while remaining collectively owned.

newest coverage 2d agosummary written 2d ago2 pieces532 likes & upvotes11 comments MastodonHacker News

What to know

  • Igalia operates without managers, external investors, or traditional shareholders—all employees advance to become co-owners with voting rights on company decisions.
  • The company has grown from 10 engineers in 2001 to nearly 200 globally while maintaining its collective ownership structure unchanged.
  • Igalia is known for major open-source contributions: leading WebKit development, implementing and standardizing CSS Grid, and actively participating in web standards bodies (W3C, TC39, Khronos).
  • The firm donates a portion of annual earnings to non-profit organizations and has maintained long-term commitments to its work.

Igalia Worker-owned software engineering firm

How it unfolded 1 development · click the chart to see its coverage posts

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Sep 22yesterdaynow · 9:44 AM ET
  1. 1

    Igalia celebrates 25th anniversary

    The company marked 25 years of operation with nearly 200 employees globally, maintaining its founding structure: no managers, no shareholders, collective ownership, and continued open-source contributions.

    “no managers, no shareholders, and everything we build left where anyone can use it…”
    — Igalia
    • igalia@floss.social

      Today Igalia turns 25. In September 2001, ten engineers from the University of A Coruña started a company with no outside investors, no managers, and no intention of ever appointing any. There are now close to 200 of us, spread across the world. The arrangement has not changed: no managers, no shareholders, and everything we build left where…

      igalia@floss.socialMastodon2d ago519▲view on Mastodon ↗
  2. background

    CSS Grid ships in Chrome and Safari — CSS Grid, implemented by Igalia in both Blink and WebKit, became stable in Chrome and Safari—the first genuinely new web layout system in years.

  3. background

    Igalia launches WPE WebKit for embedded platforms — The company began developing a lightweight WebKit port built on Wayland, which became WPE WebKit, the official WebKit port for embedded platforms.

  4. background

    Igalia joins W3C standards body — Recognizing that browser code is downstream of standards discussions, Igalia joined the W3C, later joining Khronos Group (2016), ECMA International and TC39 (2018).

  5. background

    Browsers become Igalia's center of gravity — Igalia shifted focus to browser development, helping move Epiphany from Gecko to WebKit, with the change announced in 2008 and shipped in GNOME 2.28 the following year.

  6. background

    Igalia begins work on mobile web rendering — The company started work on Maemo and later Moblin, MeeGo, and Tizen projects, focusing on web rendering on mobile hardware.

  7. background

    Galicia names Igalia most innovative company — The regional government recognized Igalia as Galicia's most innovative company.

  8. background

    Igalia joins GNOME ecosystem and builds Fisterra — Igalia became part of the GNOME ecosystem and built Fisterra, an open-source Enterprise Resource Planning system on GNOME technologies.

  9. background

    Ten engineers found Igalia without investors or managers — Ten engineers from the University of A Coruña in Galicia, Spain founded the company with no external investors and no intention of appointing managers, structured as a collective ownership model.