Between 2011 and 2015, Open Garden developed software of the same name, a proprietary internet community-based connection sharing software application that shared Internet access with other devices via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. When the person whose Internet connection was being shared left the network, the application automatically detected and connected to the next best available connection.
After raising $2 million seed money from a group of angel investors in September 2012, Open Garden started developing and incorporating roll out multi-hop connectivity and channel bonding into their application. The new funding was led by Allan Green, an early investor in Phone.com and Mobileway, David Ulevitch, then CEO of OpenDNS, Derek Parham, creator of Google Apps for Business, and Digital Garage, which also invested in Twitter and Path. The application was free for download for Android and macOS, and at that time, Open Garden planned a freemium business model, with paid features like VPN access for business users.