创始人拒绝投资13年、仅有几十人的开源项目斩获81k+ GitHub star，用户破百万，网友：他一个人拯救了PHP

Core Insights - Laravel is a modern PHP framework created by Taylor Otwell in 2011 to improve PHP development and provide an alternative to the popular CodeIgniter framework. It has grown to over 1 million users and is supported by approximately 740,000 websites today [1][4]. Group 1: Company Overview - Laravel has a market share of 35.87%, competing closely with Yii at 30.56% and CodeIgniter at 26.05% [4]. - The official GitHub repository for Laravel has received over 81.6k stars and 24.4k forks, ranking it among the top PHP frameworks [1]. Group 2: Development Journey - Taylor Otwell initially did not aspire to be a programmer; he had a background in IT with a focus on computer networking rather than software development [6][7]. - Otwell's programming journey began in earnest after he joined Arkansas Best Freight, where he received internal programming training [8][9]. - The idea for Laravel emerged in late 2020 as Otwell sought to address issues he encountered in his work, aiming to create a modern PHP web application framework [11][12]. Group 3: Community and Growth - Laravel was open-sourced after its initial development, and within three years, it gained significant attention despite Otwell not earning any income from it during that period [13][15]. - The first significant revenue for Laravel came with the launch of Laravel Forge in 2014, which allowed Otwell to focus full-time on Laravel development [15][27]. - The Laravel community has played a crucial role in its growth, with contributions from key figures like Jeffery Way and Dayle Rees, who helped create educational resources and promote the framework [20][22][24]. Group 4: Recent Developments - In September 2024, Laravel raised $57 million in Series A funding from Accel, marking the first significant investment in the company after 13 years of operation [27]. - The company has seen a 25% year-over-year increase in open-source downloads as of July 2024, indicating strong growth and interest in its offerings [27]. - Otwell's decision to accept external funding was driven by the need for sustainable growth and the desire to develop new products like Laravel Cloud and Nightwatch [28][32].