Elektron started as a school project in 1997. The founders, Daniel Hansson, Anders Gärder and Mikael Räim were tasked with creating either a digital land-line phone, a bicycle trip computer, or a beeper. Not particularly inspired by the options at hand, Hansson suggested the trio make a synthesizer instead. The result was the SidStation, and the company was officially founded in 1998 to handle its production and release.
The Machinedrum drum machine (2001) and Monomachine digital synthesizer (2003) soon followed, but it wasn't until the release of the Octatrack sampler in 2011 that the company would make a name for itself. Initially (and somewhat inaccurately) described by reviewers as "Ableton in a box", the Octatrack took features and connectivity more commonly found in software and built them into a solid aluminium chassis.
So well-received was the unit that it won the Music Radar Sampler of the Year award that same year. Similar awards have gone to the Analog Four synthesizer (2012), the Analog Rytm drum machine (2014), and Analog Heat audio processor (2016). Famous Elektron users (lovingly referred to as Elektronauts) include New Order, The Chemical Brothers, The Knife, Thom Yorke, Del tha Funky Homosapien, and John-Michel Jarre.