Superhuman is a software company specializing in AI-powered email solutions designed to enhance productivity for both teams and individuals. Known for its high-speed email experience, Superhuman promises to help users save hours each week by optimizing email management through innovative features and tools.
Background
Founded in 2014 by Rahul Vohra, Conrad Irwin, and Vivek Sodera, Superhuman is headquartered in San Francisco, California. The company's mission is to provide the fastest email experience ever made, enabling high-performing teams and individuals to manage their inboxes more efficiently. Superhuman seamlessly integrates with Gmail and Outlook, offering powerful features like AI writing, summarization, and Split Inbox to help customers fly through their inboxes, spend less time on busywork, and reclaim over four hours each week to focus on what truly matters.
Key Strategic Focus
Superhuman's strategic focus centers on delivering a high-speed, AI-integrated email client tailored for premium users and tech-savvy professionals. The company emphasizes:
- Speed and Efficiency: Providing the fastest email experience to help users process emails twice as fast as before.
- AI Integration: Implementing AI-powered features such as Auto Summarize, Instant Replies, and AI Assistant to enhance user productivity and email efficiency.
- Platform Expansion: Extending support beyond Gmail to include Microsoft Outlook, thereby broadening its user base.
- Enterprise Solutions: Introducing collaboration tools, enterprise-grade security, and integrations with platforms like Salesforce and HubSpot to cater to teams and organizations.
Financials and Funding
Superhuman has raised a total of $108 million in funding over multiple rounds:
- Series B (May 2019): Raised $33 million at an undisclosed valuation.
- Series C (August 2021): Raised $75 million at an $825 million valuation, led by IVP with participation from Tiger Global and notable personal investors such as the CEOs of Discord and Dropbox.
The capital has been utilized to enhance product development, expand platform compatibility, and introduce AI-powered features to improve user productivity.
Technological Platform and Innovation
Superhuman distinguishes itself through its proprietary technologies and innovative methodologies:
- AI-Powered Features: The platform offers AI functionalities like Auto Summarize, Instant Replies, and AI Assistant, enabling users to draft emails, summarize content, and manage their inboxes more efficiently.
- Keyboard Shortcuts: Extensive use of keyboard shortcuts allows users to navigate and manage emails swiftly, reducing reliance on mouse interactions.
- Split Inbox: This feature helps users categorize and prioritize emails, ensuring important messages are addressed promptly.
- Seamless Integrations: Superhuman integrates with platforms like Salesforce and HubSpot, streamlining workflows for sales teams by enabling CRM updates directly within the email client.
Leadership Team
Superhuman's leadership comprises experienced professionals:
- Rahul Vohra: Co-Founder & CEO. Previously founded Rapportive, which was acquired by LinkedIn.
- Conrad Irwin: Co-Founder & CTO. Former VP of Engineering at Bugsnag.
- Vivek Sodera: Co-Founder. Former Co-Founder of LiveRamp.
- Kristen Hayward: Head of People & Operations. Former Chief People Officer at Hustle.
- Seiyonne Suriyakumar: Head of Marketing. Former Director of Product Marketing at Dropbox.
Competitor Profile
Superhuman operates in a competitive landscape with several notable alternatives:
- Shortwave: An AI-based email client offering features like inbox splitting, scheduling email sends, read status, and various keyboard shortcuts. It also provides AI features like drafting emails and summarizing content.
- Spark Mail: An email client that unifies inboxes and automatically categorizes emails for easy processing. It offers team collaboration features and is used by 17.5 million people globally as of December 2024.
- Spike: Transforms email into a chat-like interface, integrating messaging, collaboration, tasks, and video/audio calls into one platform. It also offers AI email drafting capabilities.
- Hey: An email product from 37 Signals that separates unread messages into different mailboxes based on importance and offers fast labeling and sorting workflows.
- Gmail: Google's free email client integrated with the Google Workspace suite, offering features like integrated chat and AI capabilities for generating email summaries and composing new emails.
Strategic Collaborations and Partnerships
Superhuman has established significant collaborations to enhance its offerings:
- Salesforce Integration (June 2023): Streamlines workflows for sales teams by enabling CRM updates directly within the email platform.
- HubSpot Integration (March 2024): Offers similar benefits as the Salesforce integration, tailored for sales teams using HubSpot.
Operational Insights
Superhuman's strategic considerations include:
- User-Centric Design: Focusing on delivering a high-speed, efficient email experience tailored to the needs of high-performing teams and individuals.
