Box (company)

The idea for Box.com started in 2003 with Aaron Levie, who was a business student at University of Southern California.[4] He wrote a paper for school on the industry for storing digital files online[4] and started developing the Box service in 2004.[4] In 2005, Levie dropped out of school to work on Box full-time with long-time friend and cofounder Dylan Smith.[5][6][7] Initially, the software was developed in the attic of Smith's parents' house, then in a garage owned by Levie's uncle that had been converted into a living space.[4] Levie and Smith were joined by cofounders Jeff Queisser and Sam Ghods.[8] The founders relied on their own money as well as support from friends and family members, until Mark Cuban invested $350,000 in seed funding in 2005.[4]

The Box service was released in 2005.[4][5] In the first year after its release, the company's revenue was in the tens of thousands of dollars.[7] It raised $1.5 million in series A funding in 2006 and $6 million in Series B funding in 2008.[4] Box's revenues grew 500% from 2008 to 2009. By 2010, the company had raised $29.5 million in funding and the service had four million users.[9]

Box was initially focused on consumers, but many of those consumers used the service at work. Box pivoted to focus on business users around 2009 and 2010.[4][7][10] The company developed features to embed Box in common business applications or use APIs to integrate with them.[10] In 2009, it acquired Increo Solutions, which developed software for previewing and collaborating on digital files.[5][11] In 2011, a reworked version of the Box service was released with technical improvements designed for handling large numbers of business users, changes to the user interface, and more collaboration features.[12] The company started developing its first industry-specific features for heavily regulated industries in 2012, when it introduced tools for HIPAA compliance at healthcare organizations.[4]

Box also expanded internationally, with offices in London, Berlin, and Tokyo, among other locations.[4][13] In 2011, the company raised $48 million in funding to support its data centers.[7] This was followed by an additional $125 million in funding round the next year,[14] $100 million in 2013,[15] and $150 million in 2014.[16] By 2014, Box had made five acquisitions.[11] These included the 2013 acquisition of Crocodoc, which developed software for opening documents online, and dLoop, which focused on analytics related to digital files.[11] The company also purchased Streem for its technology that synchronizes files between devices and online files.[11]

On January 23, 2015 Box became a public company via an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange.[5][17] In November 2014, Box acquired MedXT, which developed medical software, for $3.84 million.[18] The following February, it acquired cloud management service Airpost.[19] Box moved its headquarters to its current location in Redwood City, California in January 2016.[20] In July 2018, Box acquired search engine company Butter.ai.[21] In 2019, hedge fund Starboard Value took a 7.5% stake in the company.[22][23]

In May 2020, Box announced a new version with improved integration with videotelephony software, as well as a feature called Collections that allows users to customize their personal folder structure, due to the increase in remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic.[24]

Box acquired e-signature startup SignRequest for $55 million, in February 2021.[25][26] In April 2021, Box announced that it had accepted a $500 million investment from KKR, a private equity firm.[27][22]

A screenshot of Box.com's mobile user interface

Box.com is a cloud-based content management system with collaboration, security, analytics and other features related to files and information.[28][29] There is a core Box service, then add-ons for different industries and situations.[30][31] Box is used to manage, share, and collaborate on digital files.[32] As of 2017, there are about 41 million users,[32] constituting 6.5% of the market for software that helps manage, share, and collaborate on digital files.[33]

Box stores files in an online folder system that can be accessed from any device with an internet connection.[32] Often, a copy of the files are also stored on the user's devices, then synchronized with the online version.[32] Users can invite "collaborators" that can upload or modify files[34] or the user can share specific files or folders.[32] Users can also create certain files directly in Box.com and add comments or notes that are visible from the folder system.[34]

Box began as a simple service for storing, sharing, and syncing files among different users and devices, but developed over time into an enterprise product with features for security and compliance.[28][35][29] Files on Box are encrypted using TLS encryption.[5] Each user has access to their own documents, as well as to corporate files that the IT department manages.[12] IT staff can also set other access and security policies,[12] get audit information like who accessed what files, and receive alerts for suspicious downloads.[32] Box's open APIs allow it to integrate with common business applications.[34][35] For example, one integration allows users to save files to their Box.com folders directly from Microsoft applications.[34] The company also provides consulting, support, and other services.[36]

Box held its first annual conference, BoxWorks, in January 2010, initially under the name Altitude.[4][7] The first conference drew about 300 attendees, but grew to about 3,000 by 2013.[4]

• Comparison of file hosting services
• Comparison of file synchronization software
• Comparison of online backup services

• Official website
• Q&A Interview with Box CEO on CNET
• Business data for Box, Inc.:
  • Google
  • SEC filings
  • Yahoo!