tldraw is an infinite canvas component for the web that lets developers embed regular web content (buttons, inputs, videos, even other sites) on a collaborative canvas. The component is available today and is approaching a 2.0 release later this month; a flagship demo at tldraw.com supports offline diagrams, save/load, image export, and instant multiplayer powered by its real-time sync engine. It offers a runtime JavaScript API, primitives for custom tools and shapes, UI customization, and is translated into 33 languages. The canvas is designed to be extended, programmatically controlled, and easily integrated with existing sync services, and supports advanced interactions (Apple Pencil pressure, optimized touch panning, rotating cursor visuals) for fast multiplayer use. tldraw positions itself as a missing primitive for Figma-like apps, aiming to let solo developers, small teams, and larger teams build collaborative canvas experiences without redoing two years of design engineering. The team has a new office in London and is hiring. TLDraw offers a blank, infinite web canvas that lets users draw lines and objects, write text, and insert images, videos or GIFs, with easy link-based sharing (including read-only links) and multiple export formats (SVG, PNG, JPG, JSON). The beta site adds more shapes, colors, line options, frames, sticky notes, duplication/move tools and other UX improvements. It began as an open-source project launched by Steve Ruiz in 2021 and also provides developer tools described as “Whiteboard-as-a-service” for teams and third-party apps. Several projects and platforms have built on TLDraw as a base canvas, and the company plans to open-source the new beta and migrate collaborative versions and its Visual Studio Code plugin to that codebase. The startup has five full-time employees and currently receives no revenue beyond GitHub sponsor donations; it plans to generate revenue via licensing, support, and possibly putting some collaboration features behind a paywall. Over the next 12 months the team intends to add features such as rulers, object lists and animations based on community feedback.

Total raised

$5M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

Nov 2023