Today, Kubermatic officially turns 10 years old. We are incredibly happy to share this milestone with you. What a journey so far.
Looking back at the last decade, there are a few highlights to celebrate, especially around our community, partners, and team.
How it all started
Our story didn’t start in a polished office with a fancy espresso machine. It started on a few long cycling trips.
Back in early 2016, Sebastian Scheele and Julian Hansert were pedaling through the countryside, talking about a vague gut feeling that Kubernetes was going to be the next big thing, and sharing a sense that infrastructure didn’t have to be this complicated.
They didn’t wait for someone else to build it. Our founders registered the company (which many of you remember as Loodse) and turned Julian’s living room into our first office.
At the time, “cloud-native infrastructure” wasn’t exactly a buzzword. Most conversations started with explaining why containers mattered. Why Kubernetes wasn’t just hype. Why automation could (and would) change everything.
The early days involved a lot of explaining: what containers are, why Kubernetes matters, and why automation isn’t just a “nice to have.” It took time, patience, and a few people willing to take a chance on something that wasn’t widely adopted yet.
First steps
We launched the first version of what would become our platform, based on the idea that companies wouldn’t just run one cluster: they’d run many. We became one of the first Kubernetes Certified Service Providers and Training Partners, back when the ecosystem was still small and close-knit.
From there, things moved quickly.
We open-sourced our tools, changed our name (and made life easier for everyone who had to say “Loodse”), raised funding, and built new products. At the same time, we watched the ecosystem grow into something much bigger than it was in those early days.
Meanwhile, we organized ContainerDays in Hamburg, bringing together a few hundred container enthusiasts, which felt huge at the time! (For context: KubeCon Europe had around 400 attendees that year).
Milestones & story
We’ve had some incredible moments along the way:
2016: We hosted the first ContainerDays in Hamburg. We were nervous, but 200 people showed up, at a time when the biggest Kubernetes conferences only had a few hundred more.
2018: We became one of the first 20 Kubernetes Certified Service Providers (KCSP) globally, part of a small and tight-knit group of pioneers.
2019: We open-sourced KubeOne, our Kubernetes lifecycle management tool for automating deployment and operations of single clusters.
2020: We open-sourced our core software (KKP) and officially became Kubermatic (no more trying to explain how to pronounce “Loodse”).
2023: Kubermatic was recognized as one of the five Cool Vendors in Gartner’s Cool Vendors in Container Management report. We also won the ECN Award in the category “Euro Cloud Native Member of the Year.”
2024: We launched KubeLB, our load balancer solution, and Kubermatic Virtualization, enabling you to build and manage your private cloud entirely with Kubernetes.
2025: Kubermatic was recognized in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ and The Forrester Wave™, a moment that reflects how far the original vision has come.
The people
It’s easy to list milestones. But that’s not what stands out most when we look back.
It’s the people.
From two founders in a living room to a team spread across 14 countries. Fully remote, long before it became the norm. Different backgrounds, cultures, and time zones.
And not just internally. The community around us has been just as much a part of this journey.
From organizing ContainerDays to speaking at conferences around the world, this ecosystem has always been about learning and building together. Back when Kubernetes events were small enough that you recognized most faces in the room, those conversations helped shape how we think about what we build today.
That hasn’t changed.
Contributing to open source, hosting events, and sharing knowledge is core to how we operate. As one of Europe’s top committers to the Kubernetes Project, we believe open source communities build better software for everyone. We actively contribute to upstream Kubernetes, cloud native technologies, and other projects that support multicloud adoption.
A lot of what we’ve built wouldn’t exist without that exchange of ideas, and that’s still one of the best parts of this space.
To Our Partners and Customers: Thank You
We wouldn’t be here without the 100+ customers and countless partners who have trusted us over the last ten years. You’ve challenged us, supported us, and helped us grow into the company we are today.
As the saying goes: “Success isn’t just about what you accomplish; it’s about what you inspire others to do”. We’re proud of the last 10 years, and even more excited for what’s next. Thank you for being part of our story.
