YouSendIt Acquires Found To Enable Integrated File Search Across Apps, Devices, Cloud Storage Platforms And More

Cloud collaboration company YouSendIt has acquired Found Software, a startup that allows users to search for, find and discover their files, documents, and data across devices and cloud services. The acquisition price was not disclosed but we hear it was a cash and stock deal.

Found’s Mac app gives users single, integrated file search capabilities across the desktop, apps, cloud storage providers and more. You can see your files from Dropbox, SkyDrive, Evernote, Google Drive, Gmail attachments, your computer and more.

As you type, Found presents relevant documents from your home machine as well as your various accounts in the cloud. When you mouse-over each search result, Found presents a full image preview of the file. It also lets you drag-and-drop files from Found search results into a Gmail message for quick file sending and sharing. Since Found runs on the Mac, it is essentially a better version of Apple’s Spotlight search function.

For background, YouSendIt was one of the pioneers of file sharing, offering a service that mainly appealed to behind-the-firewall customers who were unable to send large files via email due to Microsoft Exchange limitations. The company has then expanded to file-sharing across a number of platforms, including mobile and desktop. Last year, YouSendIt brought on Brad Garlinghouse as CEO, as the company expanded its footprint in the enterprise storage and collaboration market.

Last year alone, YouSendIt did $57 million in revenue, which is up 50 percent from 2011 and passed 40 million registered users.

With the acquisition, YouSendIt will gain the ability for its users to access files across many different apps and services, explains Garlinghouse. He explains that it’s naive to think that business users will only use one storage provider or content provider, so YouSendIt is moving towards the ‘cloud-nostic’ future.

Once Found is integrated into YouSendIt, users won’t have to hunt for information and app across these multiple clouds and devices. We’re told that Found, which has raised $1 million in funding from NEA and others, will remain available to users as an independent application. The application’s technology will also be used to power search on YouSendIt.

In the future, Found’s technology is also going to be using the meta data in files to provide insights to users. For example, you’ll be able to know who has accessed a file, what the file contains, and more info, quickly and easily before heading into a meeting.

Check out TechCrunch TV reporter Colleen Taylor’s interview with Found’s founders last year below.