SAN FRANCISCO — A startup founded by former Pinterest designers and engineers launched a new email application on Monday that rethinks the traditional inbox around user needs rather than chronological order.
Extra, developed by a team of eight people who previously worked at Pinterest, introduces a system that organizes messages by relevance to the user’s daily activities. Instead of following the standard inbox layout, emails are grouped by context such as travel, shopping, or work projects. The app uses machine learning to prioritize messages based on the user’s calendar and recent online activity.
The founding team includes former Pinterest chief design officer Evan English and ex-Pinterest engineering director Maya Patel. English stated that the goal was to make email less overwhelming by focusing on what matters most each day. The company has raised 4.5 million dollars in seed funding from investors including SignalFire and Unusual Ventures.
Extra is currently available as a free download on iOS and macOS. Early users report that the app reduces clutter by hiding low-priority emails until they become relevant. The startup plans to introduce a premium subscription later this year to unlock advanced features like custom automation rules.
Tech industry analysts note that the email client market has seen little innovation in the past decade. Most existing apps rely on the same sorting and filtering methods introduced in the early 2000s.
Source: techcrunch.com