Venture Capital Firms

Yahoo Acquires Xoopit and Email Gets Even Better!

Founded in 2004, Xoopit which has been undergoing beta testing has now been acquired by Yahoo. First before explaining Yahoo’s acquisition of Xoopit, let’s explain what Xoopit exactly is. Xoopit is a website which is the amateur photographer’s digital dream. Founded in 2004, Xoopit allows you to upload your photos from your computer or bring in your video files from Flikr, Youtube, Shutterfly, Kodak, and Picasa in one website. Now, however, with Xoopit being acquired by Yahoo, you will be able to have more options to send your photos and video clips to your friends and family. With the acquisition of Xoopit, size limits of photos, graphic images, and video clips will be a thing of the past. As of now, Yahoo just signed the agreement for the acquisition, but in the near future, you will see that Xoopit will appear as one of the tabs in your yahoo email account.

The merger did cause some concerns for Gmail users, who have Xoopit, but as the message on the official announcement on Xoopit’s company site states that Gmail users have nothing to worry about. The first question raised by Gmail users is if the Xoopit service will continue with Gmail. Xoopit answers by saying that as Xoopit gradually gets integrated into the Yahoo infrastructure, Gmail users will still be able to use all the services that Xoopit offers for the time being. Furthermore, Xoopit is an application that was created for Gmail, so Xoopit will continue to run on Gmail and Gmail users will not notice any changes for a while.

Xoopit works by providing an app that you can attach to your email browser known as “My Photos.” My Photos is an app that allows you to organize all your photos online and even send them through your email to your friends and families.

Xoopit is based in San Francisco, California and until this acquisition was a privately owned company that worked closely with Gmail. The two founders of Xoopit are Bijan Marashi, who also serves the company as its CEO; and Jonathan Katzman, who also works at Xoopit as the company’s COO.

An article filed with Trends & News on July 22, 2009, states that the merger of Xoopit and Yahoo is official and the article’s headline reads “Xoopit + Yahoo Mail = Moving Beyond the Massive Digital Shoebox.” The article goes on to further state that most email inboxes do change into digital shoeboxes filled with intimate family photos that people share with close friends and family. Furthermore, the basic inbox can be a disorganized mess. Xoopit will organize all your photos and you can send what ever ones you want through the email. The article goes on further to state that Yahoo’s acquisition of Xoopit is a big deal, because Yahoo already has the largest photo organization system on the net and with Xoopit on board, it will get even better. The attachment limits for photos, which has been a problem for many people will be eliminated when you use the Xoopit My Photos with Yahoo.

Xoopit also has a video on its website that shows the “future of email.” The video is a quick overview of the Xoopit application and how it will work with Yahoo. It has music over the entire video, which can be muted and explains in great detail how Xoopit works and walks you through step by step on how to save and share your favorite photos and moments in your life with friends and relatives.

Xoopit’s investors include Foundation Capital, who invested together with some individual private investors in $1.5 million in seed funding in December of 2006 and then in March of 2008, Accel Partners and Foundation Partners invested $5 million in series A funding.

Founded in 1995, Foundation Capital is a vc firm, who’s single goal is to build great companies. The philosophy of the partners at Foundation Capital is that the most powerful aspect of the foundation of a company is the idea. The idea of a product or new service that can disrupt the markets is the most powerful driving force in a company’s success. Furthermore, at Foundation Capital, all the vc firm’s partners have been entrepreneurs and are willing to share their entrepreneurial experience with new entrepreneurs as they make that first step. Some other companies in Foundation Capital’s portfolio include Aktino, Altor Networks, Azure Power, BabyCare, Biz360, Calstar Products, and others.

Accel Partners has been around for over 25 years and is a global vc firm with offices in London, China, and India; along with its headquarters in Silicon Valley. Accel Partners likes to invest in entrepreneurs who are courageous and have a breakthrough idea that can take over a market. Some other companies in Accel’s portfolio include Facebook, Real, Xen Source, Glam.com, JBoss, BitTorrent, MacroMedia, RiverBed, and others.

For more information about Xoopit, click here.

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