Runtime Design Automation was founded in May, 1995 in Alameda, CA. Runtime Design Automation's main offices are now located in Santa Clara, CA. The company is privately held and privately funded.

The innovative technology behind our Flowtracer design flow manager comprises run-time tracing for design management. This technology was initially developed at the University of California at Berkeley between 1989 and 1991; it was extended and tested at Siemens from 1992 to 1995.

Runtime Design Automation was issued U.S. Patent 5,634,056 in May, 1997 on intelligent change propagation.

In December 2000 Runtime Design Automation opened a Research and Development office in Padova, Italy. The Italian group was reabsorbed by the California team in 2005.