QlikTech was founded in 1993 as a consulting company. The office was established in Lund, Sweden at Ideon, one of the oldest science parks in the world. One of the company's first assignments was to develop a tool for analyzing multi-dimensional data. While developing a solution for this customer,it struck the founders that this was also a solution to a general problem that many organizations have. This led to the development of QlikTech's patented in-memory associative technology.

They called the new software they developed QlikView because it provided a point-and-click-simple way to view data and information. After applying for patents, version 3.15 was launched in 1997 and could be installed as a standard program on PCs. At first the company grew slowly, but by 2004 there were over 1500 customers across the world. The company was now considered a highly successful Swedish software company, but it faced a decision. Was QlikView a Nordic phenomenon, or a global one? At the end of 2004, Accel Partners and Jerusalem Venture Partners, the premier global venture capitalists made an investment in taking QlikView global. Since then the growth has been rapid. Today QlikView has more than 265,000 users in 74 countries, over 6000 customers, and continues to add an average of 12 customers every day.