Box: Surefire Way of Sharing Files and Managing Contents

Box Inc. is a file sharing and content management service company. Using the freemium business concept, Box offers a maximum of 50 gigabytes of free storage space for personal accounts. Initially, Box provides 10 gigabytes and any user can enjoy up to 50 gigabytes of free storage by downloading the Apple iOS version of the app. Box app is also available for WebOS, BlackBerry, Android and Windows Phone.

The services of Box revolve primarily on uploaded files that are shared and collaborated. Aside from personal accounts, Box also offers business and enterprise accounts. The features such as unlimited storage, customized branding and admin controls are available depending on the type of the account. Third party integration is also available through Google apps, Salesforce and NetSuite.

Some of the most notable investors that placed confidence on Box are NBA ball club Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and US Venture Partners. The total funds raised in four years from angel investment, Series A and Series B funds were $14.6 million.

Box purchased Increo Solutions in October 2009. Increo Solutions has developed a collaborative online document along with the needed media viewing tools such as Embedit and Backboard. With this acquisition, Box was able to offer new features in January 2010 which includes an integrated content viewer which can embed files anywhere within the web.

In 2011, Box launched another round of fund raising activities which was attended by Emergence Capital Partners, Andreessen Horowitz and Meritech Capital Partners. Box closed a total of $48 million, which included $10 in debt financing offered by Hercules Technology Growth Capita. Another round of funding activities was closed by Box later that year with investments from salesforce.com and SAP totaling to $81 million.

In the mid-2012 Box collected another $125 million I investment funds from General Atlantic and other previous investors. After this round of fund raising, Box was valued between $1.2 and $1.5 billion. A public document that came out in October 2013 reported that Box has the potential to raise as much as $100 million. These successes that Box had in raising funds indicate the level of trust investors have placed on the potential of this company.