Document analytics startup DocSend raises $8M

San Francisco based document analytics company DocSend has raised $8 million in Series A round led by August Capital. The platform allows users to send documents via links, which can be tracked for details like when it was opened, time spent on them and if users switched tabs. The documents can be updated and replaced within the same link itself. Last week, DocSend announced an add-in for Microsoft Outlook. Once installed, the DocSend for Outlook add-in is available from the Add-ins menu in the mail composition window. From there, one can create links to documents already uploaded to DocSend, or upload new ones. The DocSend link looks like a native attachment. It already has Gmail and Salesforce integration. The product is targeted at sales professionals to send across product info and proposals; startups to send across pitch decks; Business Development for partnership and sponsorship info; and marketing professionals who can send across documents as collaterals and white paper. Russ Heddleston, CEO, DocSend, said on a blog that DocSend has come a long way since its launch three years ago.

“Like any audacious goals, we started small by improving a specific workflow: sending and receiving documents, which for the most part hasn’t changed since the 1990’s. And we didn’t target just any document. We went after the most important documents we knew of: pitch decks. Our first customers were entrepreneurs who poured their hearts and souls into creating documents that represented their businesses. Then, they’d send this off to countless investors to find a fit and build out their dream.”

He claims that DocSend a small sample of customers surveyed have confirmed to have raised over $1 billion using the platform. “In actuality, that number is way higher,” he adds. The funding will be used for product development. Heddleston says:

“In order to figure out how we scale DocSend, we’ve done way more listening than selling. As different types of companies have adopted DocSend, we’ve spent a lot of time understanding how they do business and how DocSend does (and could) fit into their workflows. This has allowed us to see the larger opportunity to build out a document solution tailored specifically to teams of deal makers and the other parts of their companies supporting them. “Building this out is going to take a lot of time and people. We’re fortunate to have the opportunity to partner with August Capital for our Series A. As a firm, they have a fantastic reputation and we couldn’t be more excited to work with them.”