Google Ventures-backed Collaborate debuts

SAN FRANCISCO — Psst, looking for a secure way to share documents and communicate around them on your smartphone?

Kibits today released its app, dubbed Collaborate, on Apple's App store and Google's Play that does just that. Collaborate promises shared access to documents stored at cloud services from Box, Dropbox, Google Drive and Evernote.

"It's for teams working together out in the real world, if you are out doing field sales or field services," says CEO and co-founder Matt Cutler.

The Collaborate app is free to download and use with a group of up to five members across iPhones, iPod Touch devices, Android phones and the Web. However, this will only give a taste of limited access. To get integration with the cloud services and other features, people will have to pay $9.99 per month for a group of five. Pricing continues higher depending on the number of users and data storage requirements.

Kibits has been in stealth mode since it was first founded in January 2011, working on the productivity app. Google Ventures, SOSventures, General Catalyst, CRV, Commonwealth Ventures and other investors have injected $2.3 million into the Boston-based company.

While Collaborate allows people to look at others' documents and message one another, it hasn't yet made shared document editing available.

"That's the sort of product we'd look to have in the future," Cutler says.