Witkit

About Witkit

Witkit was a Canadian company, founded in 2012 by brothers Sean and Sohrab Merat in Vancouver. The firm positioned itself in the secure collaboration market, aiming to provide a platform for individuals and businesses. In January 2015, Witkit announced it had secured $5 million in seed funding, although the backers were not disclosed. This capital was intended to fuel the launch and development of its secure, centralized collaboration platform.

The company's core offering was a cloud-based platform designed for secure collaboration, instant messaging, and file sharing. Its value proposition centered on security, employing a proprietary end-to-end encryption protocol called Witcrypt. This protocol was built on a zero-trust architecture, meaning secret keys were never shared with the server, and information was primarily encrypted on the client side. The platform allowed users to create "Kits," which were virtual workgroups organized around specific projects or topics. Within these Kits, members could share files, hold discussions, manage tasks, and use a synchronized calendar. Kits could be either private or public, allowing for both controlled and open collaboration. During its testing phase, the company reportedly signed up 400 companies, including teams from prominent firms like Facebook, Accenture, and Zendesk.

The business model focused on providing a secure alternative to other collaboration tools, targeting clients from startups to larger enterprises who needed to protect their intellectual property. A key promotional strategy at launch was offering the first 50,000 users 50GB of free, data-encrypted storage. Despite its initial funding and launch, the company is now listed as deadpooled, indicating it is no longer in operation.