Box raises US$150m ahead of looming IPO

8 Jul 2014

Aaron Levie, co-founder and CEO of Box

Cloud storage player Box, headed by Aaron Levie, has raised US$150m in venture capital from TPG and Coatue Management, valuing the company at US$2.4bn ahead of an IPO expected later this year.

The company publicly filed for an IPO in March but delayed those plans because of weakening demand for tech stocks.

According to an update to Box’s S-1 SEC filing, the company’s sales rose by 94pc at the end of the last quarter while losses increased by 13pc on last year.

Box reported a US$38.5m loss on revenue of US$45.3m in the quarter ended 30 April.

The US$150m raised will buy Box time in order to pick the right moment to list publicly.

TPG’s growth equity fund TPG Growth recently invested in other high-growth tech start-ups, such as Airbnb and Uber Technologies.

“Our mission is to help organisations be more productive, collaborative and competitive by connecting people and their most important information,” Box co-founder and CEO Aaron Levie said.

“This focus has been instrumental in building a customer base that includes some of the most influential businesses in the world. We’re excited to work with TPG Growth and Coatue as we continue to aggressively invest in our customers, technology, and future growth.”

Box today has more than 27m individual users at more than 240,000 businesses globally, including 99pc of the Fortune 500 companies. Its customers include Chevron, Safeway, Pearson, Nationwide Insurance, and General Electric.

Box has also been positioned as a leader in Gartner’s first-ever ‘Magic Quadrant for Enterprise File Synchronization and Sharing (EFSS)’. Box has been evaluated among 19 vendors in the market on 15 criteria. Box is the only cloud-based provider among the four leaders.

Bryan Taylor at TPG said TPG has a long history in investing in cutting-edge technology companies, and Box is no exception.

“Box has established a strong leadership position in the transition to the cloud, and we are confident that the company can continue to scale.”

Video interview with Box co-founder and CEO Aaron Levie

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

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