Kicksend
DefunctYC S11San Francisco, US Β· Founded 2011 Β· 11 employees Β· 6 known investors
Kicksend enables customers to print photos and create personalized photo products including greeting cards, canvas prints, frames, and photo books for pickup at Walgreens locations or delivery to their home. The platform serves consumers who want to create custom photo merchandise.
Also known as Kicksend, Inc.
Founders & leadershipΒ· Y Combinator alumni (S11)
Kicksend was founded in 2011 by Pradeep Elankumaran and Brendan Lim.
Investors Β· 6
Also in the syndicate Β· 2
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Kicksend was a consumer-focused file-sharing and photo-printing company founded by Pradeep Elankumaran (Founder/CEO) and Brendan Lim (Founder/CPO) and incubated in Y Combinator's Summer 2011 batch. Its original product let users drag and drop files of any size into a web or desktop app and send them to recipients addressed only by email; recipients did not need a Kicksend account, and the desktop app could automatically receive and organize incoming files. The service emphasized simplicity for non-technical users, imposed no stated file-size or volume limits, supported recipient lists for group sharing, and offered real-time transfer notifications and per-file comment threads. Facebook Connect was used for sign-in and to surface which contacts already used the service.
The product later expanded to mobile β an iPhone app in December 2011 and an Android app in May 2012 β and the company subsequently repositioned around sending and printing photo albums. In that phase Kicksend described itself as a web, mobile and desktop app for printing and sharing photographs, with social tools, multiple payment options, one-click purchasing and a virtual currency system, plus retail partnerships with Walmart, Walgreens, Target, CVS and Duane Reade for local pickup of printed photos. Later descriptions position it as a photo-printing and personalized-gift platform serving consumers in the US and Canada with same-day pickup or home delivery across prints, photo cards, mugs and blankets.
As of today the kicksend.com domain resolves to a Walgreens-branded photo printing and photo gifts storefront operated under the Printicular brand and marked "Powered by Autopilot," listing an address at 7 Elm Street, Second Floor, New Haven, CT, and offering prints, posters, canvas, photo books, wall decor, greeting cards, mugs and other personalized products with same-day Walgreens pickup or delivery in the US, Canada, New Zealand and the UK.
Founding story
Kicksend was co-founded by Pradeep Elankumaran and Brendan Lim and incubated in Y Combinator's Summer 2011 batch, launching in beta in August 2011 with the stated aim of making large-file sharing simple enough for non-technical friends and family. Fundable lists a founding year of 2011.
Business model
Kicksend began as a freemium consumer file-sharing service: free sending up to 1GB of bandwidth, with planned premium tiers offering roughly 10GB per month, delivery alerts and detailed analytics, plus a contemplated enterprise plan adding notifications, analytics and fully private files. The company later shifted to a transactional e-commerce model in photo printing, where each print or personalized photo product is priced and purchased individually, with one-click purchasing, multiple payment options and a virtual currency system supporting the platform.
Initially freemium file sharing with planned paid consumer and enterprise tiers; subsequently transactional e-commerce, with revenue generated per photo print or personalized gift product ordered, each priced separately and fulfilled via same-day retail pickup or home delivery.
Traction
By its August 2011 beta launch Kicksend reported 15,000 registered users and over 40,000 files sent, achieved largely by word of mouth, with photos the most commonly shared file type. Y Combinator lists a team size of 11; Fundable lists an 11-50 employee range, $1.8M total raised across 2 rounds from 5 investors.
Latest developments
Sources disagree on the company's exit and end state. Y Combinator lists Kicksend's status as Inactive and describes it as acquired by Lyft, while Preqin states it was acquired by Pocket Games Inc. in April 2016 and reports a USD 1.0M seed round led by DG Ventures and True Ventures dated 2016-04-25, with stated plans to expand personalized product lines across North America by late 2017. The kicksend.com domain today serves a Walgreens photo printing and photo gifts storefront under the Printicular brand, "Powered by Autopilot."
βΈFull profile β market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
Kicksend entered a crowded consumer file-transfer market alongside Dropbox, Box, WeTransfer, YouSendIt and newer entrants, where no single provider dominated, and sought differentiation through simplicity and unlimited-size private sharing for family use. It later occupied a niche in consumer photo printing and personalized photo gifts built on national retail pickup partnerships.
Against contemporaries such as Dropbox, Box, WeTransfer, YouSendIt, Ge.tt, Minus and Sendoid, Kicksend positioned on ease of use for non-technical family members: no installation required to receive, no stated file-size or data limits, private sharing rather than public links, asynchronous delivery (unlike IM or Skype transfers), automatic desktop receipt and organization of files, no shared folders or permissions to manage, and in-app commenting on each file. Its backend was described as optimized for content delivery so media could be routed to any endpoint in real time.
Technology
Web application, Mac and Windows desktop clients with automatic receive and on-disk organization of incoming files, iPhone and Android apps, Facebook Connect integration for identity and social graph, real-time transfer notifications, per-file comment threads, recipient lists/groups, and a backend infrastructure described as optimized for content delivery so that media could be routed to any endpoint. The later commerce platform included one-click purchasing, multiple payment options and a virtual currency system.
Go-to-market
Early growth was word-of-mouth driven, with 15,000 registered users and more than 40,000 files sent by the August 2011 beta launch, supported by Facebook Connect to surface existing contacts on the service and by cross-platform availability on web, Mac and Windows desktop, iPhone and Android. In the photo-printing phase, distribution ran through retail partnerships with Walmart, Walgreens, Target, CVS and Duane Reade providing local pickup locations for printed photos.
Consumers rather than businesses β particularly non-technical friends and family members sharing large batches of photos and videos, with some incidental business and creative use (for example musicians transferring large GarageBand files). The photo-printing business targeted consumers in the US and Canada buying prints and personalized gifts for occasions.
Geography
Y Combinator lists the company in San Francisco; Preqin and Fundable list Mountain View / California. The photo printing service was described as serving consumers in the US and Canada, and the current kicksend.com storefront offers country options for the United States, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, listing an address in New Haven, Connecticut.
History
Kicksend was incubated in Y Combinator's Summer 2011 batch and launched a public beta of its web and desktop file-sharing apps in August 2011, at which point its investors were Y Combinator, Start Fund and SV Angel. In November 2011 it raised a $1.8M seed round led by True Ventures with Digital Garage, SV Angel, Start Fund and angel Jack Abraham participating. An iPhone app followed in December 2011 and an Android app in May 2012. The company subsequently repositioned around photo printing and personalized photo gifts, building retail pickup partnerships with Walmart, Walgreens, Target, CVS and Duane Reade. Sources conflict on the exit: Preqin reports an April 2016 acquisition by Pocket Games Inc. alongside a USD 1.0M seed round led by DG Ventures and True Ventures on 2016-04-25, while Y Combinator's company profile states Kicksend was acquired by Lyft and lists the company as Inactive.
Risks & controversies
Public sources conflict materially on Kicksend's outcome: Y Combinator names Lyft as the acquirer while Preqin names Pocket Games Inc., and the two also disagree on headquarters (San Francisco vs. Mountain View) and on funding totals ($1.8M total per Fundable and TechCrunch vs. a separate USD 1.0M 2016 seed per Preqin). Note also that kicksend.ai is an unrelated AI email marketing product founded by Elliot Kovac and built by the team behind the Dispatch agency; it is a name twin and not treated as part of this profile. The original file-sharing market was highly competitive with well-capitalized incumbents.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources β announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed β not independently audited.
Timeline Β· 8
launches, deals, and filingsPreqin reports a USD 1.00mn seed round for Kicksend led by DG Ventures and True Ventures.
$1M source β
Preqin's profile states Kicksend was acquired by Pocket Games Inc. in April 2016. Note: Y Combinator's company page instead states Kicksend was acquired by Lyft; the sources conflict.
Kicksend's Y Combinator company profile describes the company as 'Acquired by Lyft' and lists its status as Inactive. This conflicts with Preqin's report of an acquisition by Pocket Games Inc.
Kicksend's photo printing platform offered local retail pickup through partnerships with major US drugstore and big-box chains.
Six months after its iPhone app, Kicksend brought photo, video and file sharing to Android users, extending its web and Mac desktop offerings.
Kicksend released an iPhone app for sharing photos and videos captured on mobile devices.
Seed financing announced to grow the team and expand the file-sharing service; mobile apps were said to be in development.
$1.8M source β
Y Combinator-backed Kicksend opened a public beta offering drag-and-drop sending of large files to recipients identified only by email address, via a web app and Mac/Windows desktop apps with auto-receive, real-time notifications, recipient lists and per-file comment threads. The service was free for up to 1GB of sending bandwidth.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
In the news
βΈResearch sources Β· 8
primary sources listed
- Kicksendkicksend.com Β· web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Kicksend do?
- Y Combinator S11 startup that began as a consumer large-file sharing app and pivoted to photo printing with retail pickup; now inactive.
- Who founded Kicksend?
- Kicksend was founded by Pradeep Elankumaran, Brendan Lim in 2011.
- Who are Kicksend's investors?
- Kicksend's investors include Y Combinator, Digital Garage, SV Angel, True Ventures.
- Where is Kicksend headquartered?
- Kicksend is headquartered in San Francisco, US.