Yesterday, Box filed its long-awaited S-1 registration statement with the SEC, sharing its financial performance with the public for the first time. The start-up has garnered considerable interest over the years, alongside consumer-oriented rival Dropbox. Both companies provide cloud storage services and have put up significant user growth. Box has put a big dent in Microsoft SharePoint's position in the enterprise content collaboration space over the years.
Revenue last year grew 111% to $124 million, while billings similarly soared to $174 million. However, Box posted a net loss of $169 million last year as it invests heavily in sales and marketing to support future growth. The company grew its salesforce by nearly 40% last year to 513 employees, comprising over half of the entire workforce. Fortunately, gross margin has expanded to 79%, giving hope that one day Box will be able to scale to profitability.
In this segment of Tech Teardown, Erin Kennedy discusses Box's financials with Evan Niu, CFA, our tech and telecom bureau chief.
