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Dropbox has been making strategic moves to expand its cloud services by acquiring several companies. In 2014, it acquired CloudOn, a mobile productivity suite that allowed users to create and edit Microsoft Office documents on their mobile devices.
This acquisition marked a significant step for Dropbox in its efforts to provide a more comprehensive cloud-based productivity suite. By acquiring CloudOn, Dropbox gained access to a suite of productivity tools that complemented its existing file-sharing services.
Dropbox has also acquired other companies to enhance its cloud services, including Bubbli, a 3D mapping company, and HelloSign, an e-signature company. These acquisitions demonstrate Dropbox's commitment to expanding its offerings and improving its services.
Dropbox's goal is to provide users with a seamless and integrated experience across all its services, and these acquisitions are key steps towards achieving that goal.
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Dropbox Acquisitions
Dropbox has made a total of 28 acquisitions in the cloud storage market, including the 2019 purchase of HelloSign for an estimated $230 million.
Dropbox's acquisition strategy involves making small purchases to improve its offerings rather than competing with other companies in the market.
The company has used its acquisition strategy to develop new services like Dropbox Shop, which allows users to sell digital material directly to consumers.
Dropbox has acquired several companies to enhance its document workflows, including FormSwift, a cloud-based platform that allows organizations to create and edit business forms and documents.
FormSwift's technology will help Dropbox develop an end-to-end "agreement workflow capability".
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Dropbox Buys DocSend for $165M
Dropbox acquired DocSend, a secure document sharing and tracking platform, in an all-cash deal worth $165 million.
The acquisition brings DocSend's library of document templates to Dropbox's portfolio, furthering its strategy to create an end-to-end document workflow capability.
DocSend helps businesses bypass cumbersome email attachments through a link-based document sharing approach, controlling file downloads and deactivating access at any time.
This enables companies to ensure that the version of a file they have shared remains up to date.
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DocSend already claims some 17,000 customers, including notable enterprise clients like Airtable and Gartner.
Dropbox plans to package DocSend, Dropbox, and HelloSign together as an “end-to-end suite” of products spanning collaboration, sharing, and e-signatures.
The acquisition represents Dropbox's second purchase in as many years, following its $230 million acquisition of e-signature startup HelloSign in 2019.
DocSend's built-in e-signature functionality will likely integrate with Dropbox's existing e-signature service, Dropbox Sign.
Dropbox has been doubling down on its enterprise focus, pushing tighter integrations with other business-focused services, including Salesforce.
The acquisition is expected to accelerate adding value through additional DocSend functionality and deeper integrations with Dropbox.
Dropbox has offered an integration with DocSend since 2019, after expanding its extensions program to support numerous business apps.
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Dropbox Continues Small Acquisitions Strategy
Dropbox has confirmed its acquisition of FormSwift, a cloud-based platform for creating and managing business forms and documents, for $95 million in cash.
This deal is a step towards Dropbox's ultimate goal of developing an end-to-end "agreement workflow capability".
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Dropbox has made a total of 28 acquisitions in the cloud storage market, including the purchase of HelloSign for an estimated $230 million.
The company's acquisition strategy is focused on improving its offerings rather than competing with other cloud storage providers.
Dropbox's acquisition of FormSwift is part of its ongoing strategy of small acquisitions to enhance its services.
The company's previous acquisition of Boxcryptor, a startup that safeguards businesses' data across various cloud services, is another example of this strategy.
New services like Dropbox Shop, which allows users to sell digital material directly to consumers, were made possible by the company's acquisition strategy.
Dropbox has also acquired Nira, a cloud document security startup founded by Hiten Shah, for an undisclosed amount.
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Startup Acquisitions
Dropbox has been on a buying spree, acquiring several startups to enhance its services. It recently acquired Nira, a cloud document security startup founded in 2020.
Nira's technology is behind Dropbox's AI-powered search app's content governance capability. This acquisition is a strategic move to develop an end-to-end agreement workflow capability.
Dropbox paid $95 million in cash to purchase FormSwift, a cloud-based platform that allows organizations to create, edit, and share business forms and documents.
Nira Hiten Shah’s Cloud Doc Sec Startup Acquired
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Nira, a cloud document security startup founded by Hiten Shah in 2020, has been acquired by Dropbox.
The acquisition was announced in Dash for Business, where Dropbox revealed that Nira's technology is behind the AI-powered search app's content governance capability.
Nira provides companies with a real-time access control system to protect proprietary information from unauthorized access.
The startup's technology is aimed at administrators of cloud applications, specifically those in IT and security teams, and is billed as quick to set up – five minutes or less!
Companies listed as customers include GitLab, HackerOne, Essence, RapidSOS, Ad Hoc, and SurveyMonkey.
Nira raised $5.3 million in venture funding from 11 investors, including Apollo Projects, Coughdrop Capital, 8-Bit Capital, Mischief, GTMfund, and Fuel Capital.
Individual backers include TaskRabbit founder Leah Solivan, Lightspeed Venture Partners' Nikita Bier, People.ai's Oleg Rogynskyy, and Flexport's Ben Braverman.
Hiten Shah assured customers in an email that Nira will not shut down following the acquisition, and that his team will continue developing new products and features, even for platforms beyond Dropbox.
Reclaim.ai AI Scheduling Tool
Reclaim.ai is an AI-powered scheduling tool that helps users manage their time and find slots for meetings. It was founded in 2019 by Henry Shapiro and Patrick Lightbody.
The tool integrates with Google Calendar and allows users to create different scheduling features, like booking links and automatic booking times. It competed with other scheduling tools such as Calendly, Clockwise, and Doodle.
More than 43,000 companies and over 320,000 people use the tool worldwide. Reclaim.ai had raised over $9.5 million in funding from investors, including Calendly and Index Ventures.
Reclaim.ai had a basic free tier for individual users, combined with plans for small teams that started at $8 per person per month. The company noted it is not changing its fees for now.
Reclaim.ai's entire team of 22 people is joining Dropbox, the company that acquired it. The team will support Dropbox's mission to "design a more enlightened way of working."
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Sources
- https://thelettertwo.com/2024/10/17/dropbox-acquires-nira-hiten-shahs-cloud-document-security-startup/
- https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/22/dropbox-acquires-index-ventures-backed-ai-scheduling-tool-reclaim-ai/
- https://www.channele2e.com/news/dropbox-acquires-formswift
- https://venturebeat.com/business/dropbox-to-acquire-document-sharing-platform-docsend-for-165m/
- https://www.techtimes.com/articles/285038/20221216/dropbox-acquires-formswift-95-million.htm
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