Almost a year after the local startup company Cupcloud was founded, the business’s creators are now aiming to bring their product to market later this year.

Cupcloud is a productivity app that caters to students and other computer-heavy users. By allowing users to “cup,” or save, windows of various programs with one click, Cupcloud simplifies desktop multitasking.

“Let’s say you have 20 web browsers; if you just want to save them, you have to hit every single save button for each web document,” said Yeaji Ham, co-founder of Cupcloud and University alumnus. “With Cupcloud, if you click the Cup button, it’ll save everything you have on the desktop.”

With the prototype up and running for nearly a year, the team is now focusing on the beta version, which was launched March 3, along with the release of a user feedback survey.

“The survey allows us to pay more attention to actual feedback and details from live users because most of them were feasible modifications or upgrades,” said Jina Kwon, the company’s chief marketing officer. “Since the concept and framework of Cupcloud may be new to the market, we are trying our best to come up with strategies to naturally merge Cupcloud into the segment.”

The survey will be open until March 31 and will provide insight into their work on the Cupcloud beta, which is expected to run thru April. 

Ham said the next version of Cupcloud will be released later this year, although a release date has not been determined.

A premium version could also be added, for which users will pay a monthly fee, Ham added.

The creators originally came up with the idea in early 2011 because they were dissatisfied with other applications, like Dropbox, said Hojoong Rhee, co-founder and CEO of Cupcloud.

“I just didn’t want to click 100 times to reopen the files, programs and webpages to continue my work,” he said. “Dropbox kind of saved me because of its multi-device syncing function, but (it’s) not the way I wanted it to be. I needed something to capture my desktop.”

The prototype was released last April, and within ten days, 366 users joined. After that, Ham and Rhee, whose company is based in South Korea, decided to come to the United States.

“We actually visited UIUC at that time to see if students would like Cupcloud or not,” Ham said. “We came back to the states to incorporate Cupcloud as a business in the states legally, as well.”

Hoping to gain awareness of the company, Ham said Cupcloud representatives will be at the Research Park Career Fair on March 27 and the All Campus Career Fair on April 3.

Amaya can be reached at [email protected]