Box Raises Another $150 Million Ahead Of Its IPO And Is Now Valued At $2.4 Billion
This isn't a shocker. Last month, Re/Code reported that Box was looking to raise another round before it moved forwarded with an IPO.
This $150 million gave Box a $2.4 billion valuation and was led by private-equity firm TPG and hedge fund Coatue Management, the WSJ reports. Including this new round, Box has raised over $560 million to date.
One thing to note: That $2.4 billion valuation is only a tad bit higher than it was when Box took on its last mega-investment. In December, the company raised $100 million on a $2 billion valuation.
Then in March, the paperwork for its planned $250 million IPO became public. But the jaws dropped in the tech industry when people saw Box's financial state.
The company was gobbling through its cash at a rapid rate, spending loads of money on sales and marketing to acquire more customers. That's a common strategy for IPO-bound tech startups, particularly in the cloud computing industry because with cloud computing, customers pay for the service over time. The faster these startups can sign up customers, the faster they'll get to the day when their ongoing, recurring revenue is huge.
Still, Box's financials were a source of controversy. Some, like early investor Mark Cuban, who bailed on Box, slammed the startups for losing so much money. Others, like Tien Tzuo, CEO of cloud accounting software provider Zuora, defended Box, calling CEO Aaron Levie a genius.
Amidst all that, Box put the brakes on its IPO and hinted this was because investors had cooled on cloud stocks these days.
The WSJ reports that Box is still planning on going public this year, some time after Labor Day. This new investment will buy it time to perhaps to close more big deals like the one it recently signed for 300,000 employees with General Electric.
We have asked Box for comment and will update when we hear back.