They have been around for what appears like years, finally Dropbox is set to float.
The cloud based storage Company that is used by more than 500 million registered users, on Saturday, filed to float on the Nasdaq kicking off the road to an initial public offering.
Since its launch in 2007 has fast become the defecto standard for millions wanting to store content in a cloud environment.
During the last year Dropbox picked up 100 million new users however they have only managed to managed to convert less than 3% those to paying customers.
Dropbox said it has 11 million paying users between individual accounts and people who are part of a paying team.
Revenue grew 31% in 2017 to $1.1 billion, up from $844.8 million in 2016. Dropbox’s net losses also shrank from $210.2 million in 2016 to $111.7 million in 2017. The company also had a positive free cash flow of $305 million in 2017.
While typically compared to competitor Box, Dropbox’s business approach to attracting paying customers is a little different. The company said in its S-1 that 90% of its revenue comes from “self-serve” customers, or users who “actively purchase a subscription through our app or website.” Dropbox spent $314 million on sales and marketing in 2017.
Dropbox will list its shares on the Nasdaq under the stock ticker “DBX.”
Dropbox published its initial public offering filings on Saturday, showing it has chosen to follow in the footsteps of other technology companies including Facebook and Snap, which have given significantly more voting rights to their founders and sometimes early investors.
That structure has enraged many corporate governance campaigners, who persuaded index providers to revise their rules for newly public companies, but Silicon Valley executives argue it is vital to insulate management from a pressure to produce short-term financial results.
Dropbox warned that the share structure could hit its valuation as a result of being ineligible for inclusion in widely tracked indices including the S&P 500, Russell 200 and S&P MidCap 400. People familiar with the offering say the company could be valued at between $7bn-$8bn, below its last fundraising round which was set at $10bn.
Its closest publicly traded competitors, Box and Atlassian, had market caps at close on Friday of $3.17 billion and $12.37 billion, respectively.
