aid: hotmail
name: Hotmail
description: >-
  Hotmail was one of the first free web-based email services, launched in 1996 by
  Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith and among the earliest venture-backed consumer web
  companies (funded by Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Menlo Ventures). Microsoft acquired
  Hotmail in December 1997 and operated it as MSN Hotmail and later Windows Live
  Hotmail. In 2013 Microsoft folded Hotmail into Outlook.com; hotmail.com mailboxes
  remain fully active but are served by Outlook.com and Microsoft 365 infrastructure.
  Hotmail exists today only as a legacy consumer email brand and domain, with no
  standalone developer program. Programmatic access to hotmail.com mailboxes is
  provided through Microsoft Graph (Outlook Mail) and the standard IMAP, POP, and
  SMTP protocols, not a dedicated Hotmail API.
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/hotmail/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
x-type: company
x-source: vc-portfolio
x-backed-by:
- menlo-ventures
x-tier: stub
x-tier-reason: portfolio-lead
x-status: acquired
x-acquired-by: microsoft
x-successor: outlook.com
accessModel:
  pricing: unknown
  onboarding: unknown
  trial: false
  try_now: false
  public: false
  label: Unknown
  confidence: low
  source: []
  generated: '2026-07-22'
  method: derived
specificationVersion: '0.20'
created: '2026-07-17'
modified: '2026-07-19'
tags:
- Company
- Email
- Webmail
- Consumer
- Communication
- Microsoft
- Legacy
- Messaging
image: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/hotmail/refs/heads/main/hotmail.png
apis: []
common:
- type: DomainSecurity
  url: security/hotmail-domain-security.yml
- type: Website
  url: https://hotmail.com
- type: Successor
  name: Outlook.com
  url: https://outlook.com
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com
- FN: APIs.json
  email: info@apis.io
x-enrichment:
  date: '2026-07-19'
  status: backfilled
  pass: local-v1
  note: backfilled from .gitignore signal + verified work evidence