(Reuters) – Box Inc’s shares have been priced at $14, an underwriter said, valuing the online data storage provider at about $1.67 billion in one of the most hotly anticipated technology IPOs in recent months.
At that price, the company’s initial public offering raised about $175 million. The price is above the expected range of $11-$13 per share.
Box is selling all of the 12.5 million Class A common stock in the offering, one of the most eagerly awaited IPOs since the blockbuster debut of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd in September.
Box, led by 29-year-old chief executive Aaron Levie, offers 10 gigabytes of free online storage and charges fees for additional space. It competes mainly with privately held Dropbox and says it has about 32 million users.
Other competitors include Microsoft Corp’s OneDrive, Citrix Systems Inc’s ShareFile and Google Inc’s Drive.
Levie, a University of Southern California dropout, founded the company in 2005 with his friend Dylan Smith. After the offering, the co-founders will own 3.4 percent and 1.5 percent of the company respectively.
The company’s biggest shareholders include venture capital firms Draper Fisher Jurvetson, U.S. Venture Partners and Coatue Management. Draper Fisher’s stake, the single largest, will drop to 19.2 percent from 23.1 percent after the offering.
Box also offers data storage facilities to companies such as Ameriprise Financial Inc, Eli Lilly and Co and Gap Inc.The company first filed to go public in March but delayed its debut due to volatile markets.
The company’s revenue rose 80 percent to $153.8 million for the nine months ended Oct. 31, while its net loss narrowed to $121.5 million from $125.2 million a year earlier.
Box said holders of its Class B common shares would have about 98.8 percent of voting power after the IPO.
Shares are expected to start trading on Friday on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “BOX”.
Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse and J.P. Morgan are among the major underwriters for the offering.
(This story has been updated with additional information)
