Why we exist
Developers got AI leverage. Everyone else got file uploads to sketchy websites.
FileHop is a small team's attempt to close that gap — one native, offline desktop file browser for every file. AI is on the way as an option, never a requirement.
The problem we kept hitting
AI tools transformed how developers work. Cursor, Claude Code, Copilot — leverage at every keystroke. Whole categories of grunt work disappeared overnight.
But everyone else — people who spend their day with PDFs, videos, decks, and spreadsheets — got almost none of that. They still upload files to sketchy websites, pay for fifteen overlapping SaaS subscriptions, and install bloated apps that take three gigabytes just to trim a clip.
The gap isn't access to AI. It's access to well-designed tools that integrate AI sensibly. That's the problem we kept stumbling on.
The bloat tax
iMovie: 3 GB to trim a clip. Veed.io: $24/month for occasional use. Office: 4 GB+ and subscription-locked.
Most users pay in disk space, money, or privacy for capabilities they rarely need.
How we're solving it
One native desktop app that handles PDFs, videos, images, documents, presentations, markdown, and data files — all from the same window.
Everything runs locally — your files never leave your machine unless you choose to upload them. AI is on the roadmap as an option you can turn on, never a requirement.
We treat FileHop as the file workspace your operating system should have shipped with — a Finder/Explorer replacement that can actually edit the files it shows you.
170 MB total.
Replaces ~20 GB of installed software and $50+/month in SaaS subscriptions.
What it replaces
| Tool | Size / Cost |
|---|---|
| iMovie | 3 GB+ |
| Adobe Acrobat | $20/mo |
| Veed.io | $24/mo |
| Microsoft Office | 4 GB+, $100/yr |
| Canva Pro | $13/mo |
| Online converters | Privacy cost |
| FileHop | 170 MB · Free tier |
The team
We're three people, bootstrapped, based in Bengaluru.
Founder Vysakh Sreenivasan was CTO at DataBrain Labs (Accel-backed) before this. The rest of the team is product and engineering, and the whole team spends a lot of time listening to what users actually want from a file workspace.
Built for professionals globally.