| Box, Inc. is a public company based in Redwood City, California. It develops and markets cloud-based content management, collaboration, and file sharing tools for businesses. Box was founded in 2005 by Aaron Levie and Dylan Smith.
The idea for Box.com started in 2003 with Aaron Levie, who was a business student at University of Southern California. He wrote a paper for school on the industry for storing digital files online and started developing the Box service in 2004.
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. Levie and Smith were joined by cofounders Jeff Queisser and Sam Ghods.
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.
In the first year after its release, the company's revenue was in the tens of thousands of dollars. It raised $1.5 million in series A funding in 2006 and $6 million in Series B funding in 2008. 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.
In 2009, it acquired Increo Solutions, which developed software for previewing and collaborating on digital files. 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.
In 2011, the company raised $48 million in funding to support its data centers. This was followed by an additional $125 million in funding round the next year, $100 million in 2013, and $150 million in 2014.
Box moved its headquarters to its current location in Redwood City, California in January 2016, In July 2018, Box acquired search engine company Butter.ai. Box acquired e-signature startup SignRequest for $55 million, in February 2021.
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