Sabeer Bhatia Was Rejected By 18 VCs Before He Sold Hotmail To Microsoft

Bhatia is the man who made the world's first free web-based email service, also said he got the opportunity to meet  Bill Gates, the former CEO of Microsoft, in October 1997.

Sabeer Bhatia, the co-founder of Hotmail, in a recent interview with Raj Shamani said that he was rejected by 18 VCs, and only one VC understood his idea and handed around $300,000 to him as funds when he sold Hotmail. Bhatia is the man who made the world's first free web-based email service, also said he got the opportunity to meet  Bill Gates, the former CEO of Microsoft, in October 1997, and at the end of their meeting Gates had said that "he hoped they could do something together."

Hotmail Was Sold To Microsoft

Bhatia, the co-founder of the popular email service Hotmail, made a significant profit when he sold his company to software giant Microsoft for an estimated $300 million in 1998. Since then, Bhatia has attempted to launch several new business ventures, spanning areas such as e-commerce, messaging, instant collaboration, and IoT (Internet of Things) applications for agriculture. However, these subsequent endeavours have had limited success or have even failed entirely. Interestingly, one of Bhatia's companies also received an investment from the famous Indian industrialist Ratan Tata.

Watch the full interview in the video embedded below:

Bhatia's latest venture, ShowReel, aims to empower startups and innovators by combining education and a platform for showcasing their products and services, fostering entrepreneurial growth and providing a space for creations, businesses, and valuable insights.

Bhatia Joins Cyber Dive

Meanwhile, Cyber Dive, a technology company known for the Aqua One smartphone designed for children, in June welcomed Bhatia as an official advisor. 

Commenting on Bhatia's addition to the team, Cyber Dive's Co-Founder and CEO Jeff Gottfurcht stated: "We are privileged and honored to add the tech legend himself, Sabeer Bhatia – the founder and visionary behind Hotmail, to our team. His incredible experience of creating Hotmail while working at Apple and then later Microsoft positions him to be an expert as we navigate the immense growth of Cyber Dive. His wealth of knowledge and core belief in making human life better aligns with our mission of providing Aqua Ones to make families safe and parallels his new company, ShowReel. His addition and guidance are the perfect ingredient in elevating Cyber Dive and its global reach."

Bhatia expressed his enthusiasm about joining Cyber Dive, stating, "I am thrilled to be joining the innovative team behind the Aqua One smartphone at Cyber Dive. As with Hotmail and ShowReel, my core belief is to connect people worldwide, making life better for those in the online ecosystem and propelling their futures. The protection that Aqua One provides is a necessary step toward creating a safe online world for families at a time when ubiquitous monitoring is believed to be impossible. I look forward to being part of the solution to this major social media issue that families around the globe face daily."