Software-as-a-service specialist Emergence Capital Partners has backed file transfer service YouSendIt Inc. in a new $14 million third round of venture funding, boosting the startup's total funding to more than $34 million since it was founded in 2004. Emergence joins prior investors Sigma Partners, Alloy Ventures and Sevin Rosen Funds in the new round, YouSendIt's first since its $10 million Series B funding in April 2007.
YouSendIt allows users to upload large files, then hosts them for another party to download. Its Web-based service essentially acts as a substitute for the file transfer protocol method of sharing large documents and multimedia files. YouSendIt says it has 7 million monthly users, and handles 10 million files each month.
The startup has a hybrid revenue model that features ad-supported free file hosting, monthly subscriptions and per-file transfer fees. The company has one of the more recognizable brand names in a field that includes Leapfile, RapidShare and SendThisFile, among others.
All four of its investors are now represented on YouSendIt's board of directors. Sigma joined for last year's Series B round, while the other two investors supplied money in YouSendIt's $10.4 million Series A round. -- Paul Bonanos
See April 2007 story on YouSendIt's second round funding from The Deal
Continue reading below
All that injection of capital and they still had to lay off 14 of ther 70 staff. Makes you wonder where all that money has gone and how much of it actually makes it to services catering to us. Anyway, it doesn't really affect me since I'm using 2large2email (http://www.2large2email.com/). It's clean and hassle free.