YC-backed Poly just relaunched as AI-powered file storage after pivoting from 3D assets.

What it is: Cloud storage with natural language search across text, PDFs, images, audio, video, and web files. Think Google Drive meets ChatGPT.

Key features:
• 100GB free storage (vs 15GB Google Drive)
• AI assistant for file Q&A and summaries
• Auto-organization and smart tagging
• Supports YouTube link summaries
• $10/month for 2TB

How the pivot happened:
• Started as 3D asset generator in 2022
• Realized AI image market would get crowded fast
• Interviewed users about workflow pain points
• Discovered file organization as bigger unmet need
• Shut down v1 in 2023, went stealth to rebuild
• Tested in closed beta before public launch

Funding: $8M total ($3.9M in 2022 + $4.1M seed led by Felicis, Bloomberg Beta, NextView)

Founder takeaway: When your market gets saturated, pivot to your users' biggest unsolved problem.

Source: TechCrunch

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