Kanopy was founded on December 25, 2008, at Scarborough, Western Australia, by Olivia Humphrey, an Australian entrepreneur, as an educational tool for colleges and universities.

After attaining considerable success in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore, it expanded into the UK and US, and soon afterwards moved its headquarters to San Francisco, with Humphrey remaining as CEO.

[5] Kanopy provides each participating public library,[6] college and university with a dedicated and customizable website through which members can stream films, TV shows, documentaries and educational videos.

[7] This model used by libraries is referred to as "patron-driven acquisition" where each view (watching a video for 30 seconds or more) will prompt the sale of a license fee for that title.

Costs vary per institutional contract, but have been estimated in 2019 for single titles to be $150 for one year, $350 for a three-year license.