Dropbox
Nasdaq: DBXYC S07YC Top CompanySan Francisco, US Β· Founded 2008 Β· 4000 employees Β· Public Β· 22 known investors
Dropbox is a cloud storage and file synchronization platform that helps teams organize files, reduce busywork, and collaborate efficiently. The company serves individuals and teams across organizations who need to manage and sync files across devices.
Also known as DBX Β· Dropbox, Inc. Β· Evenflow, Inc.
Founders & leadershipΒ· Y Combinator alumni (S07)
Dropbox was founded in 2008 by Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi.
Investors Β· 22
Also in the syndicate Β· 9
Funding
SEC filings, press & company announcements$325M disclosed across 1 of 15 rounds Β· 2007β2026
- Undisclosed amountseedMar 2018Source β
βΆ$325MraisedFeb 2014 Β· 72 investors Β· Other TechnologyRule 506(b)
- Arash FerdowsiExecutive Officer, Director
- Andrew HoustonExecutive Officer, Director
- Bryan SchreierDirector
- Offering amount
- $450M
- Amount sold
- $325M
- Sales commissions
- $8.1M
- Placement agents
- Allen & Company LLC, Goldman, Sachs & Co
- First sale
- Jan 2014
- Incorporated
- Corporation, Delaware
- Federal exemptions
- 06b
Source: SEC EDGAR Form D. Amounts as filed; amended filings shown once at their latest values.
Valuation Β· disclosed
Disclosed eventsSource: SEC prospectus filings, and round valuations the company or its investors disclosed β follow each entry's link for the claim.
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Dropbox was founded in June 2007 by MIT students Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi after Houston, frustrated by repeatedly forgetting USB thumb drives, conceived of a service that would keep files automatically synced across computers and accessible from anywhere. The company was initially incorporated as Evenflow, Inc., went through Y Combinator's summer 2007 batch, and relocated from Boston to San Francisco later that year. It was renamed Dropbox, Inc. in October 2009. Houston served as CEO throughout the company's history while Ferdowsi served as CTO from founding until he stepped back from day-to-day operations in 2016 and left the company in 2020.
Dropbox's product resonated quickly with consumers and small teams thanks to a famously simple, elegant "just works" file-sync experience and a widely praised early demo video, growing from roughly 1 million registered users in April 2009 to 100 million by November 2012, 500 million by 2016, and roughly 700 million registered users by the early 2020s. The company raised early institutional capital from Sequoia Capital and Accel (Series A, ~$6 million, October 2008), and later a larger growth round widely reported around 2011 (commonly cited near $250 million) that valued the company in the billions and drew participation from investors including Index Ventures, Greylock Partners, Benchmark, RIT Capital Partners, Glynn Capital, and Valiant Capital Partners, alongside continued participation from Sequoia and Accel. By 2014, a financing/valuation event (including a BlackRock mark) pegged Dropbox's value near $10 billion, and the company also drew individual investors including U2's Bono and The Edge.
As it matured, Dropbox pivoted from a pure consumer storage product toward a broader "smart workspace" and collaboration platform for teams and businesses, launching Dropbox for Business, and acquiring companies to expand its product surface: Mailbox (2013, email client, later shut down), Hackpad (2014, collaborative docs, later shut down), CloudOn (2015), HelloSign (2019, ~$230 million, rebranded Dropbox Sign), DocSend (2021, secure document sharing/analytics for sales and fundraising), Command E (2021), Boxcryptor assets (2022), and FormSwift (2022, ~$95 million, being wound down as of 2025-2026).
Business model
SaaS subscription (freemium) β free tier with paid individual, family, and team/business tiers billed monthly or annually; also sells add-on products (Dropbox Sign, DocSend, Dash, Backup, Passwords) standalone or bundled.
Recurring subscription revenue (ARR-based), primarily self-serve online purchases supplemented by a sales-assisted channel for larger teams/enterprise.
βΈFull profile β profile (continued), go-to-market, ownership
Profile (continued)
Dropbox filed to go public in February 2018 and debuted on the Nasdaq under ticker DBX on March 23, 2018, pricing its IPO at $21 per share (above its range) and raising roughly $756 million, an IPO valuation of approximately $9.2 billion; shares closed up about 36-42% on the first day of trading near $28-$30. The IPO was one of the largest U.S. tech listings of that period and a notable proof point for the "enterprise/SaaS unicorn goes public" wave of 2018.
As a public company, Dropbox has faced intensifying competition from bundled cloud storage offered by Google (Google Drive/Workspace), Microsoft (OneDrive/Microsoft 365), Apple (iCloud), and enterprise-content players like Box, alongside slowing paying-user growth as the core storage market matured (paying users roughly flat to slightly declining around 18 million in 2025-2026, ARR around $2.5-2.6 billion). The company has responded with an increasingly aggressive capital-return program (share buybacks, including a $900 million program announced June 2026 alongside a new credit facility, and an earlier $1.5 billion buyback expansion in September 2025) and has undertaken multiple rounds of layoffs/restructuring: about 315 employees (11%) in January 2021, roughly 500 employees (16%) in April 2023, and roughly 528 employees (~20%) in October 2024, alongside a pivot toward AI, including the AI-powered universal search/organization product Dash, integrations with OpenAI/ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude for bringing Dropbox content into AI workflows, and a January 2026-announced "Dropbox Ventures" initiative to invest in AI tools for work.
In a major leadership change, Dropbox announced in May 2026 that co-founder and long-time CEO Drew Houston would transition to Executive Chairman, initially serving as Co-CEO alongside Ashraf Alkarmi (previously Chief Product Officer) during a transition period, with Alkarmi expected to become sole CEO; Mike Torres (from Google) joined as the new Chief Product Officer in July 2026, and several other C-suite roles turned over in 2025-2026 (CTO Ali Dasdan, CFO Ross Tennenbaum, CMO Boon Lai, CBO Eric Webster). As of mid-2026, Dropbox trades on Nasdaq with a market capitalization of roughly $7.3-7.9 billion, well below its 2018 IPO-day valuation, reflecting the market's view of it as a mature, slow-growth but highly cash-generative software business. As of the most recent research (Aug 2026), Dropbox operates under a Co-CEO structure: Ashraf Alkarmi (Co-CEO) and Drew Houston (Co-CEO transitioning toward Executive Chairman).
Go-to-market
Individual professionals, freelancers, small and mid-sized businesses, and enterprise teams needing cloud file storage, sync, backup, e-signature, and content collaboration; also creative professionals (via Replay) and sales/deal teams (via DocSend).
Ownership
public
Compiled by commissioned research from 18 cited public sources β announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed β not independently audited.
Founder mafia
The Dropbox mafia β59 people who came through Dropbox went on to found or lead other companies.
+ 47 more
Competitors Β· 1
by search overlapCompanies competing with Dropbox for the same Google search keywords, organic and paid, via search-intersection analysis.
Acquisitions Β· 5
Early investors' stakes continue via these dealsImmersive spherical photo/AR viewer app; acquired by Dropbox.
Document sharing and analytics service; acquired by Dropbox.
Dropbox Sign (formerly HelloSign) is an electronic signature tool for sending, signing, and managing agreements such as sales contracts, NDAs, and offer letters. It integrates with everyday tools including Dropbox, Google Drive, Salesforce, and OneDrive, and offers security features and audit trails for business teams.
Pixelapse provides version control and collaboration software for design work, allowing designers to track design iterations, share files, and coordinate with peers.
Promoted.ai provides ranking and search infrastructure for online marketplaces and e-commerce platforms, using machine learning to optimize relevance across search results, ads, and feed content.
Timeline Β· 23
launches, deals, and filingsFormer Google executive Mike Torres joins Dropbox as Chief Product Officer following Alkarmi's move to Co-CEO.
Dropbox completes a new senior secured revolving credit facility and announces a $900 million stock repurchase program.
Drew Houston announces he will transition to Executive Chairman; Ashraf Alkarmi (formerly Chief Product Officer) becomes Co-CEO during the transition and is expected to become sole CEO.
Dropbox announces a corporate investment initiative, Dropbox Ventures, to invest in the next wave of AI tools for work.
Dropbox lays off approximately 528 employees (about 20% of workforce) as part of a broader restructuring amid AI-era competitive pressure.
Dropbox lays off approximately 500 employees (about 16% of workforce), citing slowing growth and AI-driven restructuring.
Acquired secure document sharing and analytics company DocSend to expand into sales/fundraising workflows.
Dropbox lays off 315 employees (about 11% of its workforce) as part of a strategic reorganization.
Acquired e-signature company HelloSign for approximately $230 million; later rebranded Dropbox Sign.
Dropbox goes public on Nasdaq under ticker DBX, pricing at $21/share and raising approximately $756 million at a ~$9.2 billion valuation; shares close up ~42% on debut day.
BlackRock and other investors mark/finance Dropbox at approximately a $10 billion valuation.
Acquired email client Mailbox for approximately $100 million; later shut down in 2015.
Raised a large growth round (commonly reported ~$250M at a multi-billion dollar valuation) with participation from Greylock Partners, Index Ventures, Benchmark, and others.
Raised $6 million Series A led by Sequoia Capital with Accel participation.
Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi found Dropbox (initially incorporated as Evenflow, Inc.) after going through Y Combinator's Summer 2007 batch; company relocates from Boston to San Francisco.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
In the news
βΈResearch sources Β· 18
primary sources listed
- Dropbox About / LeadershipDropbox, Inc. Β· company site
- Dropbox Blog - NewsDropbox, Inc. Β· company blog
18 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Dropbox do?
- Design a more enlightened way of working
- Who founded Dropbox?
- Dropbox was founded by Drew Houston, Arash Ferdowsi in 2008.
- Who are Dropbox's investors?
- Dropbox's investors include Accel, Benchmark, BlackRock, Felicis Ventures, Greylock Partners, Index Ventures, RBC Capital, RIT Capital Partners and 5 more.
- How much funding has Dropbox raised?
- Dropbox has disclosed $325M raised across 1 of its 15 known rounds.
- Is Dropbox publicly traded?
- Yes β Dropbox trades on Nasdaq under the ticker DBX.
- Where is Dropbox headquartered?
- Dropbox is headquartered in San Francisco, US.