08 December 1947 The first computing start-up was the Eckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation, founded by American researchers J Presper Eckert and John Mauchly (both USA) on 8 December 1947. The company was created to build and sell computers, supported by the portfolio of patents filed by its two founders during their work on ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) at the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of Electrical Engineering. Eckert and Mauchly had begun thinking about how their inventions might be commercialized as early as 1944. Interviews with officials from the US Census Bureau and the Army Signal Corps persuaded them that there would be a market for electronic computers in the post-war era. In March 1946, shortly after ENIAC was unveiled to the public, the two left the University of Pennsylvania to avoid having to sign over their patents to the university, and began looking for investors.