[1] The name "Powtoon" is a portmanteau of the words "PowerPoint" (trademarked by Microsoft) and "cartoon".

[citation needed] The company released a beta version in August 2012.

[2] In December 2012, Powtoon secured $600,000 investment from Los Angeles–based venture capital firm Startup Minds.

[3] Powtoon is a web-based animation software that allows users to create animated presentations by manipulating pre-created objects, imported images, provided music and user-created voice-overs.

A user can apply pre-built backgrounds, scenes, objects, and characters to their work, or a user can choose to customize their content by creating their own diverse characters (diverse here refers to the age, race, ethnicity, and body size of the desired character) and uploading their own images, videos, or audio files.