GitLab Inc.
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Software development, DevOps |
| Founded | 2014 |
| Founder | Dmytro Zaporozhets, Sytse Sijbrandij |
| Headquarters | United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Sytse Sijbrandij (CEO) |
| Products | GitLab (DevOps software suite) |
Number of employees | 3,300+ (2024) |
| Website | about |
GitLab Inc. is a U.S.-based enterprise that designs and manages GitLab, an open-core DevOps software suite aimed at software development, security, and operations.[1] The platform incorporates a distributed version control system built on Git,Cite error: The opening <ref> tag is malformed or has a bad name and offers functionalities like access control,Cite error: The opening <ref> tag is malformed or has a bad name issue tracking,Cite error: The opening <ref> tag is malformed or has a bad name requests for new software features, task management,Cite error: The opening <ref> tag is malformed or has a bad name and project-specific wikis,Cite error: The opening <ref> tag is malformed or has a bad name alongside support for code snippets.Cite error: The opening <ref> tag is malformed or has a bad name
The initial open-source initiative was founded by Ukrainian programmer Dmytro Zaporozhets and Dutch developer Sytse Sijbrandij.Cite error: The opening <ref> tag is malformed or has a bad name In 2018, GitLab Inc. became the first partially Ukrainian company to achieve unicorn status.Cite error: The opening <ref> tag is malformed or has a bad nameCite error: The opening <ref> tag is malformed or has a bad name The platform boasts over 30 million registered users, including around 1 million active licensed accounts.[1]Cite error: The opening <ref> tag is malformed or has a bad name The organization comprises more than 3,300 contributors and staff members distributed across upwards of 60 countries.Cite error: The opening <ref> tag is malformed or has a bad name
Overview
Established in 2014, GitLab Inc. was created to further develop the open-source code collaboration platform originally launched in 2011 by Dmytro (also spelled Dmitriy) Zaporozhets. Early contributor and co-founder Sytse Sijbrandij transformed the project into a commercial venture.
GitLab's platform is offered under a freemium pricing strategy. From its inception, the company has been a strong proponent of remote work, earning recognition as one of the world’s largest fully remote organizations. By 2020, its workforce had grown to 1,300 employees spread over 65 countries.
History
GitLab participated in the Winter 2015 cohort of the YCombinator seed accelerator program. By that year, prominent clients included corporations such as Alibaba Group and IBM.
In January 2017, a database administrator unintentionally erased the production database following a cyberattack, resulting in substantial data loss. The incident’s recovery efforts were broadcast live on YouTube.
In April 2018, GitLab Inc. announced its integration with Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) to streamline application deployment processes.
By May 2018, the GNOME project transitioned to GitLab, bringing over 400 projects and 900 contributors onto the platform.
On August 1, 2018, GitLab commenced development on Meltano.
Shortly thereafter, on August 11, 2018, GitLab migrated its infrastructure from Microsoft Azure to Google Cloud Platform, limiting accessibility in regions subject to U.S. sanctions such as Crimea, Cuba, and Iran. To maintain availability of GitLab CE within these areas, the non-profit organization Framasoft provided a Debian mirror.
At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, GitLab published "GitLab's Guide to All-Remote" along with a remote management training course designed to assist organizations transitioning to fully remote work models. In April of that year, GitLab expanded its presence into Australia and Japan. By November, secondary market valuations placed the company’s worth above $6 billion.
In 2021, OMERS took part in acquiring secondary shares of GitLab Inc.
On March 18, 2021, GitLab granted licensing rights of its technology to Chinese firm JiHu.
On June 30, 2021, Meltano was spun off from GitLab as an open-source platform focused on Extract, Load, Transform (ELT) processes.
On July 23, 2021, GitLab introduced Package Hunter—an open-source tool based on Falco that identifies malicious dependencies in code—released under the MIT License.
In August 2022, GitLab initially planned to delete repositories inactive for one year but reversed this decision after receiving criticism from the open-source community; instead, such repositories would be archived with reduced-cost storage options.
In May 2023, GitLab unveiled "GitLab 16.0," an AI-powered DevSecOps platform that included more than 55 new features and improvements.
By July 2024, Reuters reported that GitLab was considering a potential sale amid acquisition interest from companies including cloud monitoring provider Datadog.
Capital Raising
GitLab Inc. began its funding journey with an initial seed round of $1.5 million. The company subsequently secured additional investments through the following stages:
- In September 2015, GitLab completed a Series A round, raising $4 million from Khosla Ventures.
- By September 2016, the Series B round brought in $20 million, led by August Capital alongside other investors.
- The following month, October 2016, GitLab obtained another $20 million in Series C funding, with GV as the lead investor.
- In September 2018, a substantial Series D round raised $100 million, spearheaded by ICONIQ Capital.
- During 2019, GitLab closed a Series E round totaling $268 million, led jointly by Goldman Sachs and ICONIQ Capital, at a valuation of $2.7 billion.
Public Offering
On September 17, 2021, GitLab submitted a registration statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to pursue an initial public offering of its Class A common stock. Trading commenced on October 14, 2021, on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol "GTLB."
Utilization
In 2023, the French Ministry for Education officially adopted GitLab Forge to build a "Digital Educational Commons," aimed at fostering shared educational materials.
Company Acquisitions
In March 2015, GitLab Inc. acquired Gitorious, a rival Git hosting platform with approximately 822,000 users at the time. Users were encouraged to transition to GitLab prior to Gitorious being shut down in June 2015.
On March 15, 2017, GitLab announced the acquisition of Gitter, a startup specializing in software chat solutions. The plan was to continue operating Gitter as an independent project and release its source code under an MIT License by June that year.
January 2018 saw GitLab acquire Gemnasium, a security scanning tool focused on open-source libraries. Its capabilities were integrated into GitLab Enterprise Edition and CI/CD pipelines before discontinuing the standalone service in May.
On June 11, 2020, GitLab expanded its security offerings by acquiring Peach Tech and Fuzzit, companies known for protocol fuzz testing and continuous fuzz security testing technologies.
GitLab further enhanced its machine learning features through the acquisition of UnReview on June 2, 2021—a platform designed to automate software review processes.
On December 14, 2021, GitLab announced it had acquired Opstrace, creators of an open-source observability platform. This move was intended to develop the first comprehensive observability solution integrated directly within a DevOps platform.
Issues and Disputes
GitLab plans to terminate GitLab.com account services for users located in mainland China, Macau, and Hong Kong by February 18, 2025. Affected users are instructed to migrate their accounts to JiHu (gitlab.cn), GitLab’s authorized distributor in China. Following this deadline, existing accounts will be deleted. This decision follows the establishment of JiHu Information Technology (Hubei) Co., Ltd. in 2021—a joint venture designed to offer localized GitLab services featuring independent infrastructure and management tailored specifically for the Chinese market.
In December 2024, JiHu encountered significant backlash after a former DevOps architect publicly revealed an alleged “Endgame Plan” devised by CEO Liu Gang. The plan purportedly aimed to convert free users of GitLab CE in China into paying customers through controversial legal measures. After these disclosures and calls for CEO Liu’s resignation surfaced, the architect was dismissed and legally pressured to retract his statements. Additionally, he accused JiHu of hiding American investment interests and raised national security concerns due to its connections with a Chinese aerospace enterprise.