While accessing some resources on the Internet such as a web page, an image, a movie, or a song simple no one downloads all data of Internet to their hard drive or a flash memory of a mobile device. So why is the situation different when synchronising files at our laptops, desktops, and mobile platforms such as tablets and smartphones? Why do we need to accept automatic transfer of files, often of a few gigabytes in size slowing down our systems and making our work often inefficient? That’s where Sher.ly, Cracow-based startup, comes in. It’s your personal cloud located on your own computer.
It all started with two friends who were passionate about new technology: Blazej Marciniak and Marek Ciesla. They met and worked together at Veracomp in Krakow, one of the biggest IT distributors in Poland. Before Sher.ly, they created VPN, new tec for safe data transmission over the Internet.
The idea was an instant success. They launched their Kickstarter campaign in May 2014 and reached their goal in just 5 days, and after a month collected 154,000 USD, 223% of their target sum. Sherlybox was backed by 900 Kickstarter Backers who ordered over 650 devices. Sherlybox became a huge success even before hitting the market in August 2015. They’ve got got another three million PLN from KPD Investment. Sher.ly was also supported earlier with investments from Satus VC, Innovation Nest, and the Krakow Technology Park Seed Fund.
Sher.ly delivers a new way of sharing files with your co-workers and business partners, directly from your computer or other devices, by creating a secure, invite-only network on demand. Sher.ly is a fully secure alternative to public cloud solutions like Dropbox, OneDrive, Box, Apple Cloud Drive or Google Drive because the data is not uploaded to any external servers. With Sher.ly, you create your own virtual drive, which uses the hard drives in your devices. As the cloud is using your drive, you’re not paying anything for the cloud space.
The files are immediately visible on other devices thanks to intelligent metadata synchronisation, which allows you to set preferences for access depending on project type, device, file name, file size, or modification date. When you use Sher.ly your data aren’t sent to any external servers, you need a physical storage to keep it. When user device goes offline, like laptop sleeping to conserve power, it’s vital to data availability to have always-on networked storage with Sher.ly software on it. This is why we invented Sherlybox device. It enables your files to be accessible even when you turn off your computer. Sherlybox embodies the vision of your own secure cloud for files, available 24 hours a day.
On the market there are some startups and SMEs which are going in the same direction. They are active in the area but they are doing it rather fragmentarily. Sher.ly tries to approach the subject more comprehensively and fold everything together. Our advantage is the technology we used in Sher.ly — the intelligent metadata synchronization which enables a convenient and safe transmission of large amounts of data.
They’ve already got around 7000 users. If you want to check Sher.ly out, the prices start from $5.09 a month.
