TPG, Coatue put $150 mln into Box ahead of IPO

The financing round values Box at about $2.4 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter as saying. In return, TPG gets a seat on Box’s board, the startup said in a statement.

Box posted a near-doubling in first quarter revenue to $45.3 million, underscoring the torrid pace of expansion that at one point had made Box one of this year’s most-anticipated tech IPOs. In an amended prospectus filed on July 7, Box said its net loss for the first three months widened to $38.55 million, from $34.12 million a year earlier.

The startup, which had warned it did not expect to be profitable for the foreseeable future, grew rapidly by spending heavily to secure clients. It was one of a coterie of companies that rode a migration toward Internet-based storage and services, and now claims some 27 million individual users scattered across 240,000 businesses globally.

But the company had put its IPO plans on hold as shares of fellow companies that market Internet-based services began heading downward around the time its prospectus was filed, as investors reassessed lofty valuations. Box now intends to make its debut after the Labor Day holiday in September, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Its other backers include Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Andreessen Horowitz and General Atlantic.