Box finally gives green light to IPO
After withdrawing March 2014 filing, Box is finally going ahead with its IPO, which values the firm at more than $1.5bn
Enterprise cloud storage and file sharing company Box has finally given the green light to its Initial Public Offering (IPO) after months of delays and uncertainty.
The firm had originally filed for an IPO in March 2014, but promptly withdrew the filing, with anonymous sources suggesting that the company was having cold feet as to the strength of the tech market.
Sources had told the Wall Street Journal in May that the slowing growth of cloud technology companies such as Salesforce.com, Netsuite and Workday had scared Box off pursuing IPO on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
In September, at Box Works 2014 in San Francisco, Box COO Dan Levin told Computing that the firm was "watching and waiting" for an IPO, claiming that the firm "absolutely intends to be a public company at an appropriate time".
It seems as if that time has come, with the firm stating that it wants to register as many as 14.4 million shares, priced at between $11 and $13 a share. The firm expects to raise as much as $186.9m, and the IPO would value the firm at more than $1.5bn.
The company, which plans to list on the NYSE under the symbol "BOX", was founded by CEO Aaron Levie and CFO Dylan Smith in 2005.
Box began as a consumer-facing product, but Levie and Smith are increasingly focused on turning the product into an enterprise-grade solution. Box's senior vice president and general manager for EMEA David Quantrell believes that Box's customer base is evidence that it is no longer considered a consumer solution.
"I'd say go talk to Ango American, Schneider Electric - they just rolled us out. People are putting us in deliberately as a security solution so they can get control over content," he said.
Levie suggested back in 2013 that the firm had more than 20 million users, from over 180,000 businesses, including 97 per cent of the Fortune 500 - including the likes of GlaxoSmithKline, Netflix and RedBull. Now, the firm claims to have 32 million users, with over 275,000 companies using the platform.
But he knows that he has to convince investors that there is more to Box than an online storage platform - something that can and has already been replicated by tech giants such as Google and Microsoft. To that end, Box has begun to tailor its service to different industries and verticals.