The encyclopedia · Software & IT · Strategic decision · 2002
Blender's users crowdfunded €110,000 to buy and open-source it
When Blender's investor-owned company folded in 2002, the community raised €110,000 in seven weeks to buy the code and release it under the GPL.
Blender Foundation
the move
Blender was developed by NaN, a company that attracted two funding rounds totalling about five and a half million US dollars but closed in early 2002 amid a harsh economic climate, excess spending and troubled investor relations. Blender's development ceased with the company.
Unable to buy the rights from NaN's backers himself, Ton Roosendaal founded the Blender Foundation in May 2002 and launched the Free Blender crowdfunding campaign in July of that year — the first of its kind.
The community of 250,000 users raised one hundred and ten thousand euros in just seven weeks, enough to regain Blender from its investors. On 13 October 2002 Blender was released under the GNU General Public Licence, the strictest possible open-source contract, guaranteeing the source would stay free forever.
why it works
- Users valued the tool more than any investor did, so they funded it directly.
- A non-profit foundation gave the community a trusted owner for the code.
- Seven weeks of urgency concentrated attention and converted users into donors.
- A strict GPL release locked in the open-source promise, sustaining future contributions.
what transfers
When the asset's value is locked in a failing company, the users are the buyers no investor saw: crowdfunding converts a user community into the capital that sets the software free.
what came after
Blender became a leading open-source 3D suite, sustained by donations and the Blender Development Fund, and its open movies proved the pipeline's power — the Free Blender campaign is regarded as a landmark of early crowdfunding.
references
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