YouSendIt
Encyclopedia
YouSendIt is a Web-based secure digital file delivery company, which lets users securely send, receive and track files on demand. It is an alternative to sending large e-mail
attachments, using FTP
, and sending CDs
or DVD
s or tape
or USB flash drive
via Sneakernet
. The sender can enter the recipients' e-mail addresses, attach the file and send it; the recipients receive an e-mail notification with a URL
that lets them download the file. The company operates on a freemium
basis, with basic features being offered for free and more advanced features for a fee. YouSendIt has more than 23 million registered and 500,000 paid subscribers from 192 countries/territories. Sending a 50 MB file is free; paid accounts can send files up to 2 GB.
s, forums and other websites, the company has recently marketed itself as a method of business communication, in contrast to RapidShare
and other one-click hosting services.
YouSendIt offers four kinds of plans to its users:
YouSendIt also offers application plug-ins (Software plus services
) for Microsoft Outlook
, Adobe Photoshop
, CorelDRAW
, Apple Aperture
, WinZip
, PaperPort
, Adobe Acrobat
, Microsoft Office
, iPhoto
, Final Cut Pro
, YouSendIt Express and other programs. To deal with files larger than 2GB (a browser limitation), it offers a desktop client that lets the users send files up to 10GB in size.
E-mail
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
attachments, using FTP
File Transfer Protocol
File Transfer Protocol is a standard network protocol used to transfer files from one host to another host over a TCP-based network, such as the Internet. FTP is built on a client-server architecture and utilizes separate control and data connections between the client and server...
, and sending CDs
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
or DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
s or tape
Magnetic tape data storage
Magnetic tape data storage uses digital recording on to magnetic tape to store digital information. Modern magnetic tape is most commonly packaged in cartridges and cassettes. The device that performs actual writing or reading of data is a tape drive...
or USB flash drive
USB flash drive
A flash drive is a data storage device that consists of flash memory with an integrated Universal Serial Bus interface. flash drives are typically removable and rewritable, and physically much smaller than a floppy disk. Most weigh less than 30 g...
via Sneakernet
Sneakernet
Sneakernet is an informal term describing the transfer of electronic information, especially computer files, by physically couriering removable media such as magnetic tape, floppy disks, compact discs, USB flash drives, or external hard drives from one computer to another. This is usually in lieu...
. The sender can enter the recipients' e-mail addresses, attach the file and send it; the recipients receive an e-mail notification with a URL
Uniform Resource Locator
In computing, a uniform resource locator or universal resource locator is a specific character string that constitutes a reference to an Internet resource....
that lets them download the file. The company operates on a freemium
Freemium
Freemium is a business model that works by offering a product or service free of charge while charging a premium for advanced features, functionality, or related products and services...
basis, with basic features being offered for free and more advanced features for a fee. YouSendIt has more than 23 million registered and 500,000 paid subscribers from 192 countries/territories. Sending a 50 MB file is free; paid accounts can send files up to 2 GB.
History
YouSendIt was founded on July 7, 2003 by Amir Shaikh, Khalid Shaikh and Ranjith Kumaran with the goal of finding a way to send files large files from one entity to another. In the beginning stages, YouSendIt was using HTTP-Tunnel Corp resources, including equipment, data center and R&D to build the company. YouSendIt received their first round of funding due to giving presentations at TieCon 2004 in May. At this point, YouSendIt had about 300 000 transfers per day. Most individuals were sharing files through YouSendIt and it created a viral growth.Funding
- YouSendIt sold equity for $250k (Cambrian Ventures) - August 1, 2004
- YouSendit sold equity for $5 million (Alloy VenturesAlloy VenturesAlloy Ventures is a private equity firm focusing on early-stage venture capital investments in Life Sciences, Information Technology and Cleantech companies...
, Sevin Rosen FundsSevin Rosen FundsSevin Rosen Funds is a venture capital firm that was established in 1980 by L. J. Sevin and Ben Rosen. SRF was involved in the financing of Citrix, Cypress Semiconductor, Electronic Arts, Lotus Development Corporation, Silicon Graphics, and Vitesse Semiconductor...
, Stanford Venture Fund, Cambrian Ventures) - SEC filing October 7, 2005 - YouSendit sold equity for $4.7 million - SEC filing October 25, 2006
- YouSendit sold equity for $10 million - SEC filing April 23, 2007
- YouSendit sold equity for $14 million - SEC filing July 15, 2008
- YouSendIt Inc. secures $15 million in Series D Financing - August 3, 2010.
Products
Although YouSendIt links are frequently posted to blogBlog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
s, forums and other websites, the company has recently marketed itself as a method of business communication, in contrast to RapidShare
RapidShare
RapidShare is a one-click hosting service that offers both free and commercial services. Operating from Switzerland, it is financed by the subscriptions of paying users...
and other one-click hosting services.
YouSendIt offers four kinds of plans to its users:
- Lite: free service for sending files to friends and family; supported by advertising that appears on the upload and download pages.
- Pro: paid service for important documents, with basic file delivery tracking
- Business Plus: paid service for businesses, with advanced file delivery tracking; provides branding and password protection
- Corporate Suite: paid service, allows addition of multiple users, administrative controls, reporting, payment-by-invoice etc.
YouSendIt also offers application plug-ins (Software plus services
Software plus services
Software plus Services combines hosted services with locally running software in a variation on cloud computing. Such composite applications combine traditional software with remote services to provide a consistent user experience across devices and form factors.There are various reasons for this...
) for Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft Outlook is a personal information manager from Microsoft, available both as a separate application as well as a part of the Microsoft Office suite...
, Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is a graphics editing program developed and published by Adobe Systems Incorporated.Adobe's 2003 "Creative Suite" rebranding led to Adobe Photoshop 8's renaming to Adobe Photoshop CS. Thus, Adobe Photoshop CS5 is the 12th major release of Adobe Photoshop...
, CorelDRAW
CorelDRAW
CorelDRAW is a vector graphics editor developed and marketed by Corel Corporation of Ottawa, Canada. It is also the name of Corel's Graphics Suite...
, Apple Aperture
Aperture (photography software)
Aperture is a photo editing and management software program that was developed by Apple for the Mac OS X operating system, first released in 2005 for $499 , dropped to $199, and now released on their App Store for $79...
, WinZip
WinZip
WinZip is a proprietary file archiver and compressor for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X, developed by WinZip Computing...
, PaperPort
PaperPort
PaperPort is a computer software program designed to help organize digital documents and files, published by Nuance Communications. PaperPort uses the .MAX file format natively, while newer versions of PaperPort can also use .PDF. PaperPort also supports the stacking and unstacking of documents,...
, Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat is a family of application software developed by Adobe Systems to view, create, manipulate, print and manage files in Portable Document Format . All members of the family, except Adobe Reader , are commercial software, while the latter is available as freeware and can be downloaded...
, Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office is a non-free commercial office suite of inter-related desktop applications, servers and services for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, introduced by Microsoft in August 1, 1989. Initially a marketing term for a bundled set of applications, the first version of...
, iPhoto
IPhoto
iPhoto is a digital photograph manipulation software application developed by Apple Inc. and released with every Macintosh personal computer as part of the iLife suite of digital life management applications...
, Final Cut Pro
Final Cut Pro
Final Cut Pro is a non-linear video editing software developed by Macromedia Inc. and then Apple Inc. The most recent version, Final Cut Pro X, runs on Mac personal computers powered by Mac OS X version 10.6.7 or later and using Intel processors...
, YouSendIt Express and other programs. To deal with files larger than 2GB (a browser limitation), it offers a desktop client that lets the users send files up to 10GB in size.