Email spotlight series- #4 StartMail

Key Features

• Unlimited aliases
• Email encryption
• Custom domain
• Account access with 2FA

For the fourth spotlight series we introduce our partner - StartMail an email provider that emphasizes user privacy and offers a secure email experience. On this opportunity we interviewed Robert E.G. Beens, Co-Founder and CEO of StartMail

1. Please describe the mission of StartMail as an email provider?

StartMail is on a mission to empower individuals by spreading email privacy and protecting our customers from advertisers, government surveillance and spam. We believe that privacy is a fundamental human right and that our personal data should never be collected without our knowledge and consent.

In today's world, where our privacy is under constant threat, secure and ad-free email communication is essential. That's why we built StartMail from the ground up with an unwavering commitment to privacy at its core. Our complete private email solution offers features like one-click encryption, extra-secure data storage and unlimited, disposable email addresses to ensure that your data and communication remains private. We are the easy-to-use alternative to Big Tech products like Gmail, Outlook, or Yahoo Mail, and we are the choice of those who prioritize privacy above all else.

2. When and where was StartMail founded?

StartMail BV, the company behind StartMail’s secure email service, was founded in 2011 by the creators of Startpage, the world’s most private search engine. We launched our first StartMail beta version in 2013. To this day we remain headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands. This ensures that StartMail users are protected by the stringent privacy laws of the European Union (GDPR).

3. When was the first email sent from StartMail?

The first email from StartMail would have been sent from the first account created on November 5th, 2013 at 14:53:33 +0100.

4. What is one unique thing about StartMail?

One of the unique things about StartMail is that it lets you generate an unlimited number of aliases - disposable email addresses that help keep your main address exclusive and prevent spam and phishing.

An alias can help protect your identity when you sign up for a new online service and ensures your real email address remains hidden from sketchy sites. Aliases also help you cut down on junk mail, protect your inbox from SPAM and help identify where your data has been leaked or sold. If your email address has been sold or exposed in a data breach, you can expect the amount of junk mail you receive to increase significantly. When that happens, you can identify where the breach occurred and simply delete the alias. Aliases can also be an incredibly helpful tool to organize your inbox. You can filter all emails that come through an alias directly into a separate folder to keep your inbox clean and organized.

Other email providers limit the number of aliases you can create, but with us you can generate as many as you want and need. This feature has become a must-have for our privacy-conscious customers when it comes to protecting their online identity. Many tell us they couldn't imagine going back to a limited number of aliases.

5. What's next for StartMail? (next big feature, roadmap or anything else)

Every time we make an improvement to our product, we make sure it’s customer inspired.

We just finished a big project to improve our alias feature, so our customers can now add notes to their custom aliases or create disposable ones with a simple click - and we’ve also made accessing them a whole lot easier. We're always looking for ways to enhance the customer experience and make their lives easier, so we are now focusing on solidifying and improving our current operations and offerings for our customers in other areas too.

We're also working on expanding our reach globally and are actively seeking new partnership opportunities and other potential areas for growth.

“The online world is increasingly turning to privacy-respecting e-mail providers, but no-one wants to start from scratch. Migrating your old email and contacts is an essential step. The genius people of ShuttleCloud have turned this into a super-easy experience, facilitating freedom of choice, and unlocking the chains of legacy Big Tech companies.”

Robert Beens, CEO of StartMail