Onlook is an AI design tool that lets teams design directly in their real codebase on an infinite canvas.

Onlook was founded by Daniel Farrell in 2024.

Who are Onlook's investors?

Onlook's investors include DG Daiwa Ventures, gener8tor, Leonis Capital, Lobster Capital, Pioneer, Transpose Platform Management, Y Combinator, Dropbox Ventures and 3 more.

Where is Onlook headquartered?

Onlook is headquartered in San Francisco, US.

Onlook

YC W25

San Francisco, US · Founded 2024 · 4 employees · Hiring · 11 known investors

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Onlook builds developer and design tools that bridge the gap between creative teams and implementation, using AI to enhance the creative process.

Also known as On Off, Inc. · Onlook

AI & Machine Learning Developer Tools Enterprise Software Design Design Tools AIUnited States of AmericaAmerica / CanadaPartly Remote

Founders & leadership· Y Combinator alumni (W25)

Onlook was founded in 2024 by Daniel Farrell.

Daniel Farrell Founder and CEOHe brings over a decade of design experience, including early work at Bird on global expansion strategy, cofounding the ridesharing platform Wanderlift, and leading growth at DIMO.

Satya Patel EngineerFounder at Superset

Kiet Ho Co-Founder & CTO2023–2025Founder at Superset

Investors · 11

DG Daiwa Ventureslisted by DG Daiwa VenturesTokyo

How we know: DG Daiwa Ventures's portfolio page · open dataset · 5k.vc investor directory · Not right? Tell us

gener8torlisted by gener8torBeloit

How we know: gener8tor's portfolio page · Not right? Tell us

Leonis Capitallisted by Leonis CapitalSan Francisco

How we know: the VCSheet dataset · Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

Lobster Capitallisted by Lobster CapitalSan Francisco

How we know: open dataset · 5k.vc investor directory · Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

Pioneerlisted by PioneerToronto, Ontario

How we know: Y Combinator's founder network · pioneerfund.vc · open dataset · 5k.vc investor directory · Not right? Tell us

Transpose Platform Managementlisted by Transpose Platform ManagementSan Francisco

How we know: Transpose Platform Management's portfolio page · Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

Y Combinatorlisted by Y CombinatorSan Francisco · $500K

How we know: the Y Combinator directory · funding news · open dataset · 5k.vc investor directory · Not right? Tell us

Dropbox VenturesreportedSan Francisco · $100K – $1M

How we know: the VCSheet dataset · Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

Goodwater CapitalreportedBurlingame · $5M – $50M

How we know: Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

N+1 CapitalreportedGurugram

How we know: Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

Rice CapitalreportedCovina

How we know: Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

Company profile

researched Aug 2026

Onlook is a design and development tool positioned as "Cursor for Designers." It allows teams to design collaboratively inside their real codebase rather than in a separate mockup file, combining a visual canvas with direct access to the underlying code.

The product presents an infinite canvas workspace where users can craft, preview, and iterate on websites and prototypes with AI assistance. The interface exposes conventional design-tool constructs — layers, pages, assets, elements, brand settings — alongside live preview and code views, so that visual edits correspond to components in the project source (for example React/TSX files). An embedded chat assistant responds to natural-language requests such as fixing responsive layout behavior or adding new features, and applies the resulting changes to the code.

Business model

Onlook offers a software product for design and development teams, with sign-up and demo-booking as the entry points to the product.

▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market

Market position

Onlook markets itself as "Cursor for Designers," placing it among AI-assisted tools that connect visual design work to production code.

Technology

A browser-based design environment layered over a real web codebase, pairing an infinite canvas and layer/element inspector with live preview and code views. An AI chat assistant interprets natural-language instructions and edits project source files (e.g. React/TSX components), including responsive-layout fixes and new feature scaffolding.

Go-to-market

Self-serve sign-up combined with a "Book a Demo" motion for teams, promoted through the company website.

Design and product teams that work alongside engineers and want to make design changes directly in a live web codebase.

Compiled by commissioned research from 1 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.

Key figures

latest reported

HeadcountAug 20267

Company-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.

Founder mafia

2 people who came through Onlook went on to found or lead other companies.

Satya PatelEngineerFounded Homebrew +1 Kiet HoCTOFounded Superset

Related companies · 7

RadiusSol is a browser-based IDE that allows developers to run multiple coding agents in parallel within organized tabs, tabs, and workspaces, eliminating context switching between documentation, dashboards, and code terminals.

CursorCursor is a code editor that enables teams to manage and distribute Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers and integrations through team marketplaces, with features for organization-level access control and cloud agent integration.

DesignbaseDesignbase offers an interface design tool that converts visual designs into code, aimed at small teams and resource-constrained organizations.

Builder ioBuilder.io provides visual development tools that enable teams to collaborate on software development through a plug-and-play approach. The platform allows developers and non-technical team members to participate in the building process.

RivetRivet is a visual editor that lets product designers make UI changes and commit them directly to code, reducing the need for designer-engineer collaboration.

MidrenderMidrender is an AI-powered animation creation tool that allows users to generate and edit high-quality animations using plain language descriptions. The platform supports both manual visual editing and agent-based automation, integrating into existing design workflows via CLI or MCP to keep animations consistent with brand guidelines.

HERAHera reviews mechanical engineering drawings (prints) automatically, checking parts against current drawings and catching missed callouts in minutes rather than the days senior engineers spend reading prints by hand. It targets manufacturing and industrial teams, keeping the review process auditable and on-premises.

Companies working in the same space as Onlook.

Legal entities · 1

corporate structure

On Off, Inc.

In the news

Onlook – Cursor for Designersycombinator.com · Feb 2025

▸Research sources · 1

primary sources listed

Onlookonlook.com · web

1 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.

Frequently asked questions

What does Onlook do?: Onlook is an AI design tool that lets teams design directly in their real codebase on an infinite canvas.
Who founded Onlook?: Onlook was founded by Daniel Farrell in 2024.
Who are Onlook's investors?: Onlook's investors include DG Daiwa Ventures, gener8tor, Leonis Capital, Lobster Capital, Pioneer, Transpose Platform Management, Y Combinator, Dropbox Ventures and 3 more.
Where is Onlook headquartered?: Onlook is headquartered in San Francisco, US.