Overview: A Fresh Take on File Storage
Poly, the YC-backed startup known for its focus on intelligent information workflows, has announced a relaunch that positions it as a cloud-hosted file storage service with integrated AI-powered search. The move reflects a growing appetite among businesses to unify storage with advanced search capabilities, enabling teams to locate documents, media, and other files with natural-language queries rather than rigid metadata. This relaunch is designed to appeal to small teams and larger organizations seeking a more intuitive, scalable way to manage their digital assets.
What’s New: Cloud-Hosted File Storage
Key to Poly’s relaunch is a shift to cloud hosting that promises improved reliability, global accessibility, and seamless scalability. Customers can expect familiar file-and-folder structures, with robust performance across devices and geographies. The cloud architecture also supports advanced permissions, versioning, and collaborative workspaces, ensuring teams can store sensitive documents securely while maintaining productivity across distributed environments.
Improved Collaboration and Security
With cloud-hosted storage, Poly emphasizes role-based access control, encryption at rest and in transit, and granular audit trails. For organizations handling regulated data, these features help meet governance requirements without sacrificing ease of use. Real-time collaboration tools are integrated into the storage layer, allowing multiple users to work on the same files, leave comments, and track changes with minimal friction.
AI-Powered Search: Finding What You Need, Faster
The standout feature of the relaunch is AI-driven search that goes beyond traditional keyword queries. Poly’s search models analyze context, file types, and user interactions to return highly relevant results even when the query is ambiguous or uses natural language. This includes the ability to search across documents, emails, notes, and other stored content, all within a single, unified interface.
AI search capabilities are designed to understand intent, surface relevant sections of documents, and connect related files. For example, asking for “the latest Q3 budget presentation” can pull together the deck, the accompanying slides, and related financial spreadsheets, even if the exact filename varies. This reduces the time spent filtering through folders and accelerates decision-making.
Privacy and Control
Privacy controls are a core part of Poly’s AI search approach. On-device indexing and configurable privacy tiers help ensure sensitive data remains protected while enabling enterprise organizations to leverage AI to enhance productivity. Admins can tailor what is searchable and who can see what, maintaining compliance without imposing heavy manual governance.
Why This Relauch Matters for Businesses
As teams increasingly rely on dispersed data sources—from cloud apps to local drives—the friction of locating information becomes a significant drag on productivity. A cloud-hosted storage solution with intelligent search addresses this pain point by centralizing data access and streamlining workflows. For startups and scale-ups relying on rapid iteration, the ability to quickly locate critical documents, contracts, and design assets can translate into faster go-to-market cycles and more informed decision-making.
Competition and Market Position
Poly positions itself in a competitive space that includes traditional cloud storage providers and AI-enabled search platforms. By bundling secure cloud storage with native AI search, Poly aims to differentiate on user experience and operational efficiency. The company’s YC roots signal a tech-forward approach to product development, with an emphasis on scalable architectures and measurable productivity gains for customers.
What’s Next
As Poly expands its cloud-hosted storage and AI search capabilities, customers can anticipate ongoing enhancements to search accuracy, faster indexing, and deeper integrations with popular collaboration tools. The relaunch encourages organizations to rethink how they store, access, and leverage information—transforming scattered data into a coherent knowledge base that supports informed decision-making and quicker outcomes.
