Sijbrandij, 42, founded GitLab in 2014 with two Ukrainian IT professionals, Dmitri Zaporozhets and Valeri Sizov. The latter two had been working on software for some time that would make it easier to work on software together. Sijbrandij was impressed by their work and decided to join the Zaporozhets and Sizov, after which they managed to catch up with big companies.

In the end, the three chose to expand their business in the San Francisco area, where many startups and IT talent come together. Many of the first-team staff returned to Europe, but Sijbrandij remained in the United States.

Successful IPO

Sijbrandij owns an 18% stake in GitLab, which rose nearly 35% on its first day on the Nasdaq tech exchange to a market value of about $15 billion. The Dutchman also sold two million shares in the IPO.

GitLab is known as the place where IT people with different tasks, such as security and development, can easily collaborate. Clients include chip company Nvidia, industrial group Siemens and investment bank Goldman Sachs. The platform was also ideally suited for the quick switch to work from home that many companies have been forced to do due to Corona. In the previous fiscal year, sales increased 87 percent to more than $152 million. The company incurred a net loss of $192.2 million.