[1][2][4] The company was founded in Pasadena, California, United States by American Pete Brock following his graduation from an industrial design program.

[2] By the mid-1980s Brock and Haggard decided to leave the business and Japanese investor Yamazaki took over the company, changing the name to UP International.

The company maintained a diverse series of locations, including the UP Soaring Center in Salt Lake City Utah, where the UP TRX hang glider was developed.

Rasso von Schlichtegroll developed the new line of gliders, including the UP Katana, UP Vision and the tandem two-place UP Pickup.

Rönning reorganized the company as UP International and consolidated operations, with Torsten Siegel, Georg Maier and former World Champion Stephan Stiegler taking on glider development.

Siegel went on to work for Swing Flugsportgeräte, and Stieglair left to start his own company, Air Design.

[2] Since 2010 the design team has been made up of Czechs Frantisek "Franta" Pavlousek, Michal "Snajby" Sneiberg and Jirik "Jirka" Dlask, German aerospace engineer Matthias Hartmann and Stefan "Boxi" Bocks.