When siliconindia did a cover story on Zaplet (then Firedrop) for the May 2000 issue of the magazine, the company was just another Kleiner-funded startup, shrouded in a measure of mystique, and taking its baby steps. But soon Zaplet, with its catchy name and intriguing idea, was riding a full-fledged hype wave—with enthusiastic articles in a number of publications. The company’s core business—the Zaplet—which is a type of next-generation e-mail on steroids that delivers to an inbox and enables collaborative applications, was given a fighting chance to become the next big thing. The company got initial funding from Vinod Khosla and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Khosla, and Excite co-founder Joe Kraus are on the company’s board of directors. Early October, Zaplet announced a series D round of funding, and the impressive $90 million that was poured into the company—a figure more typical of large-scale infrastructure plays—has sent a message out to the tech community. Zaplet, which was co-founded by former C.I.A. officer David Roberts and Brian Axe in 1999, is ready to hit the big time, forget the hype, and prove what it can do.
But how do you get people to buy into the Zaplet idea and start using the platform? VP of business development Samir Mitra explains, “we’re not trying to be some niche small player, we really feel that the opportunity for Zaplet as a technology can be leveraged into something very large.” Specifically, the company is hoping to build out the enterprise version of the Zaplet platform, and it is also building a sales organization in an effort to spearhead the implementation of the technology.
Zaplet has a solid set of customers, including ZDNet, USA Today, and Mail.com. The company currently deploys its product to these customers as an ASP model, but the next step, as Zaplet moves forward, is the deployment of an enterprise version where a server is installed within the firewall of enterprise.
In either model, the basic idea remains the same. Zaplet creates extremely lightweight, collaborative, and customizable applications for people who are seeking to work together on a project. Mitra gives the example of recruitment. The entire recruitment process, as it relates to one individual candidate, can be worked on using a single Zaplet—from discussions of a candidate’s strengths and weaknesses among interviewers, to reference checks, and so on.
This new round of funding was led by Integral Capital Partners and QuestMark Partners, and including investments from Azure Capital Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Sands Brothers, AC Ventures, Cisco Systems, Novell, and Oracle, among others.
When asked if the $90 million had brought pressure to perform, Mitra suggested, “We are very focused on building the right set of technologies and working with just a few enterprise customers. I don’t feel that we have that pressure. We believe that we’re performing and that’s why we were given the money.”
As for the business future of the company, Mitra suggested that Zaplet is focused on building a lasting business and is not ready to commit to the idea that this may be the company’s last round of funding. It remains to be seen, now, if widespread adoption is in the cards for Zaplet. If people don’t buy into the concept, then the grand vision may never come to pass.
When siliconindia did a cover story on Zaplet (then called Firedrop) for their May 2000 issue, the company was just another Kleiner-funded startup, shrouded in mystery, making baby steps. But soon, Zaplet, co-founded in 1999 by former CIA officer David Roberts and Brian Axe, was riding a full-fledged hype wave, with enthusiastic articles in a number of publications. The company’s core business, the Zaplet, which is a type of next-generation “e-mail on steroids” that enables customizable and collaborative applications, was given a fighting chance to become the next big thing.
Then, in early October, Zaplet announced a Series D round of funding, and the impressive $90 million that was poured into the company—a figure more typical of large-scale infrastructure plays—sent a strong message to the tech community. This new round of funding was led by Integral Capital Partners and QuestMark Partners, and included investments from Vinod Khosla, Azure Capital Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Sands Brothers, AC Ventures, Cisco Systems, Novell and Oracle, among others. With Khosla and Excite co-founder Joe Kraus on the board of directors, Zaplet was ready to prove what it could do.
Where does Zaplet go from here? The company currently deploys its product as an ASP model to such customers as ZDNet, USA Today and Mail.com. The next step is the actualization of an enterprise version (in which a server is installed within the firewall of an enterprise) and the development of a sales organization to spearhead implementation of the technology. VP of Business Development, Samir Mitra, explains, “We’re not trying to be some niche small player; we really feel that … Zaplet … can be leveraged into something very large.”
When asked if the $90 million had brought pressure to perform, Mitra stated, “I don’t feel that we have that pressure. We believe that we’re performing and that’s why we were given the money.” It remains to be seen, however, if widespread adoption is in the cards for Zaplet. If people don’t buy into the concept, the company’s vision may never come into focus.