Comments on: Sharpcast Raises $10 Million In Down Round For File Syncing

By: Sharpcast raises $10M for sync service SugarSync » VentureBeat

Sharpcast raises $10M for sync service SugarSync » VentureBeat — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 01:02:18 +0000

[...] Yecies told TechCrunch that the founding was a “down round” that lowered Sharpcast’s valuation. [...]

By: Pennergame und Aupeo mit neuem Kapital, Plugg Konferenz mit Startup-Rally, neue Folge Techfluff.TV | Seedfinance

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 10:02:32 +0000

[...] der Betreiber des Service Sugarsync, sieht sich nun gezwungen eine Down Round durchzuführen. Und das trotz der Tatsache, dass das Unternehmen – im Gegensatz zu vielen Web 2.0-Startups – ein [...]

By: anon

anon — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 21:23:09 +0000

They got slaughtered on this round valuation and have an estimated $6M in liabilities. A company their size will only end up with three or four months of runway on this round, putting them at a disadvantage against other competitors. I’d be surprised to see them survive 2009.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 14:24:45 +0000

Our company purchased a product not long ago called FileCatalyst that not only did syncing but also compression and acceleration. We looked at a few other options too but we needed something in house on our VPN so this worked well for us.

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 21:06:01 +0000

Any ideas on number of subscribers? Revenues?

Taking $10M at a down round valuation indicates that they really need that much money. With so much competition coming from companies that have raised less (Box and ElephantDrive in the online storage space and DropBox and Syncplicity in the sync space), why do they need so much more cash?

By: justin

justin — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 13:25:43 +0000

try hibernater, its way better than just sync

By: Andre

Andre — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 09:45:41 +0000

I agree with Pete that there is a strong market opportunities for syncing services. People need access to their data, on all devices, and at all times. It’s that kind of world now. Who, these days, works just from their office (if they even have one)?

In Europe we are seeing similar confidence from VCs in supporting efforts from players like NomaDesk to bring data syncing platforms to the market – even during tough economic times, financing this important technology is obvious.

By: Sharpcast recibe 10M

Sharpcast recibe 10M — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 09:21:22 +0000

[...] ofrece servicios de sincronización de archivos a través de múltiples dispositivos, ha recibido una ronda de financiación de 10 millones de dólares por parte de los inversores existentes Sigma Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson y Selby [...]

By: Rurik

Rurik — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 05:27:28 +0000

I agree — Dropbox has had lots of hype, but SugarSync is much better. Compete.com compares ‘eyeballs’ which is a silly Web 2.0 measurement. What’s Dropbox’s revenue?

SugarSync has many paying customers (myself included, plus 3 of my colleagues) and plenty of potential to build a *real* business.

By: anon

anon — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 03:53:32 +0000

market leader? huh?
http://siteanal....com/?metric=uv

By: Pete

Pete — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 22:47:57 +0000

I hope they succeed. I think there’s a huge need for a sync platform that developers can use to sync data across various applications (whether they are in the cloud, cloud-to-desktop, or whatever). I don’t think that need will ever go away.

With SharpCast, I think they ended up spreading themselves too thin by creating a consumer application for photos rather than working with application developers as the primary customers of their tools.

I’d say the new Palm webOS also brings some interesting competition to the table with the Synergy concept.

By: anon

anon — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 22:44:53 +0000

Regarding “it’s the same thing…”. It’s ludicrous to compare the Dropbox toy application built by a couple of students to SugarSync, the market leader in the space.

By: Sharpcast、低評価ラウンドながらファイル同期サービスで$10Mを調達

Sharpcast、低評価ラウンドながらファイル同期サービスで$10Mを調達 — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 21:26:40 +0000

[...] ［原文へ］ [...]

By: fb627826

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 21:03:36 +0000

Softie purchased Foldershare a couple years ago, which is a fantastic cross-platform file synching service. It ain’t just vaporware.

By: DivineOracle

DivineOracle — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 20:08:54 +0000

Voyant International Corp. This company’s RocketStream/RocketConnect file/web acceleration technologies could be the infrastructure key to high-speed file-syncing over the Web and between devices. It could help accelerate file-sync service providers offerings.

By: igzKap

igzKap — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 19:58:27 +0000

well to be honest i truly believe that syncing of files across devices is just a temporary transition period , at the end it will all come to a centralized storage place on the servers (placed anywhere , isp , home wherever google ) whether you want it or not.

By: tivoboy

tivoboy — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 19:47:40 +0000

okay, this is just another example of the STUFF I DON’T GET. I mean, why put another 10MM in, I haven’t seen much growth here, there is no BUZZ, the blogs are not touting it, or commenting on it. Something like Evernote seems to be MUCH better positioned and continues to innovate and appears to be adding user HOF. 10MM sure as heck better get them like 3 YEARS of burn, forget run rates.

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 19:38:27 +0000

I am no expert, but his is likely a flat round from the previous valuation.

If their terms changed significantly then they would have needed the lawyers to create new set of paperwork which would have created a Series B round.

This isn’t always how it works, but often it works this way.

By: Kapil Tundwal

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 19:28:50 +0000

I have a different view to whole syncing/collaboration concept.

Had files been non-proprietery or access to internal data would have been simpler, today’s sync vendors would have provided much more value to their end users.

Yes, today’s infrastructure helps moving files efficiently, but still its a file and with it comes locking/in-efficient syncing issues.

I am sure (or at least hoping) such a feature (which for now has to be done for each specific application out there and hence for even more niche markets) is on the drawing board of sync/online back file vendors.

By: anon

anon — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 19:17:47 +0000

oh, and no free product.

By: anon

anon — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 19:17:24 +0000

I dont see why they bother competing with DropBox

Its the same thing but more complicated and with more bugs.

By: Ms Susan

Ms Susan — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 19:05:24 +0000

Startups like Sharpcast and Dropbox are looking to carve out their own niche here with both free and subscription services.

http://kisalt.net/d2

By: Erick Schonfeld

Erick Schonfeld — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 18:18:20 +0000

They are calling it a Series AA, which tells me that at the very least the valuation hasn’t changed since 2006.

By: Eli Gromon

Eli Gromon — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 17:42:50 +0000

Eric – What do you think the valuation was here? Do you think that it was a down round? There is a lot of competition in this space and it’s not clear to me that Sharpcast is the leader (or even the #2 in the space). I feel like investors must own most of the company.