Box to launch $250m IPO
Funds from IPO could be used for M&A, global expansion, data centre expansion or infrastructure improvement, CFO told Financial Director last year
Funds from IPO could be used for M&A, global expansion, data centre expansion or infrastructure improvement, CFO told Financial Director last year
BOX, the file-sharing and cloud-based storage service, has said it plans to raise up to $250m (£152m) in an initial public offering, as it announced that revenues doubled last year but still fell short of its widening losses.
In its IPO prospectus the Silicon Valley-based firm said sales increased 111% to $124m for the year ended 31 January 2014, while losses over the period widened to $168m partly as a result of investments in sales and marketing of its products.
In an interview with Financial Director last year, chief financial officer and co-founder Dylan Smith suggested funds could be used to improve its infrastructure.
“We could use capital [from the IPO] for M&A, global expansion, data centre expansion or making our infrastructure better,” Smith told Financial Director.
Although profit could be as far as four years away, Box has $109m in cash on hand and raised $100m in December last year.
“We make it one of the ways in which we invest that we have the principle where we have enough cash in the bank – at any given point – that we have got the cashflow to break even without raising capital if we pull back on growth,” Smith said last year. “It’s very important that we control our own destiny and we make sure we have a balance sheet to do that.”
The full interview with Dylan Smith can be read here
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