SparkFun Electronics was founded in 2003 by Nathan Seidle when he was a Junior at University of Colorado Boulder.

[4] The name 'SparkFun' came about because one of the founders of SparkFun was testing a development board, and sparks flew out; Fun was chosen because the company's self-stated aim is to educate people about electronics.

In January 2011, an education department was formed to outreach to local schools, hackerspaces, and events.

Product images are licensed under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0[6] During the Open Source Hardware summit in October 2010, SparkFun was one of the contributors in drafting the first OSHW definition.

[16] Whilst many of the non-component products sold by SFE are from other manufacturers, it does manufacture and sell some of its own complete products: On October 16, 2009, SPARC International sent a cease and desist letter demanding SparkFun stop using the "SparkFun" name and immediately transfer ownership of SparkFun.com to SPARC International.