Tinkercad was founded as a company in 2010 in the European Union[4] by former Google engineer Kai Backman and his cofounder Mikko Mononen, with a goal to make 3D modeling, especially the design of physical items, accessible to the general public, and allow users to publish their designs under a Creative Commons license.[5] In 2011, the tinkercad.com website was launched as a web-based 3D modeling tool for WebGL-enabled browsers,[6] and in 2012 the company moved its headquarters to San Francisco.[7] By 2012 over 100,000 3D designs had been published by users.[7]