Dgroups started as a joint initiative of seven development organisations: Bellanet/IDRC, the Department for International Development (DFID) (DFID), the Institute for Connectivity in the Americas (ICA),[2] the International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD), OneWorld,[3] the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).

The Dgroups Foundation now governs the development and running of the platform and related online services.

The Dgroups platform is designed and developed keeping in mind low-bandwidth users.

The Dgroups platform offers online tools and services needed to support the activities of a team, a group, a network, a partnership or a community.

It delivers around 500.000 email messages each day, half of which are exchanged with and within African countries.