Box, Inc. (formerly Box.net) is an American 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. Initially, it focused on consumers, but around 2009 and 2010 Box pivoted to focus on business users. The company raised about $500 million over numerous funding rounds before going public in 2015. Its software allows users to store and manage files in an online folder system accessible from any device. Users can then comment on the files, share them, apply workflows, and implement security and governance policies.
History
The idea for Box.com started in 2003 with Aaron Levie, a business student at the University of Southern California. He wrote a paper 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]