Dropbox准备启动IPO，为Snap上市以来最大规模

知情人士上周五表示，数据共享公司Dropbox Inc正打算聘请首次公开募股（IPO）的承销商，可能今年下半年上市。如果顺利，可能会成为Snap Inc.上市以来美国最大规模的科技股IPO。

2014年的一轮私募融资后，Dropbox的估值曾接近100亿美元。本次IPO将成为公司价值的重要检验。

消息人士表示，未来几周Dropbox将考察一些投行。因该消息尚未公开，相关人士要求匿名。

Dropbox公司拒绝就此置评。

最近几个月，Uber Technologies Inc.和Airbnb Inc.等多家美国大牌科技公司都选择了暂不公开上市。他们担心，股市投资者比私募投资者更看重盈利水平，估值会比较低。

今年稍早，由于投资者担心其商业模式存在不确定性，人气社交应用Snapchat的开发商Snap被迫调降了IPO估值预期。上市后，Snap的股价一直徘徊在略高于IPO发行价的水平，主要因为公司亏损扩大，盈利又逊于分析师预期，很难令投资者满意。目前Snap的市值为210亿美元。

不过，许多私营公司还是有上市压力，因为投资人需要套现退出的渠道。

汤森路透数据显示，2015年，科技业IPO规模由2014年的340亿美元降至67亿美元，2016年进一步缩水，仅有29亿美元。

Dropbox的主要竞争对手Box Inc.于2015年上市，估值约为16.7亿美元，而IPO之前私募融资时估值为24亿美元。

位于旧金山的Dropbox成立于2007年，创始人是两位麻省理工学院毕业生德鲁·豪斯顿和阿莱希·菲尔多西。知名风投公司红杉资本、T. Rowe Price和Greylock Partners都曾投资。

Dropbox最初为客户提供分享与存储照片、音乐和其他大文件的免费服务。不过随着谷歌的母公司Alphabet、微软和亚马逊都开始提供免费的存储空间，这项业务已经商业化。

自那以后，Dropbox开始将业务重心转向企业客户。Dropbox的首席执行官豪斯顿表示，公司今年营业收入有望超过10亿美元。

此前Dropbox主要按使用服务的员工人数向企业客户收费，今年业务范围进一步扩大。今年1月该公司推出了数据备份软件Smart Sync，电脑中的文件不管存在云还是本地硬盘，用户都能方便地查看使用。（财富中文网）

译者：Pessy

审稿：夏林

Data-sharing business Dropbox Inc is seeking to hire underwriters for an initial public offering that could come later this year, which would make it the biggest U.S. technology company to go public since Snap Inc, people familiar with the matter said on Friday.

The IPO will be a key test of Dropbox 's worth after it was valued at almost $10 billion in a private fundraising round in 2014.

Dropbox will begin interviewing investment banks in the coming weeks, the sources said, asking not to be named because the deliberations are private.

Dropbox declined to comment.

Several big U.S. technology companies such as Uber Technologies Inc and Airbnb Inc have resisted going public in recent months, concerned that stock market investors, who focus more on profitability than do private investors, would assign lower valuations to them.

Snap, owner of the popular messaging app Snapchat, was forced to lower its IPO valuation expectations earlier this year amid investor concern over its unproven business model. Its shares have since lingered just above the IPO price, with investors troubled by widening losses and missed analyst estimates. It has a market capitalization of $21 billion.

Still, for many private companies, there is increasing pressure to go pubic as investors look to cash out.

Proceeds from technology IPOs slumped to $6.7 billion in 2015 from $34 billion in 2014, and shrunk further to $2.9 billion in 2016, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Dropbox 's main competitor, Box Inc, was valued at roughly $1.67 billion in its IPO in 2015, less than the $2.4 billion it had been valued at in previous private fundraising rounds.

San Francisco-based Dropbox , which was founded in 2007 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduates Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi, counts Sequoia Capital, T. Rowe Price and Greylock Partners as investors.

Dropbox started as a free service for consumers to share and store photos, music and other large files. That business became commoditized though, as Alphabet Inc's Google, Microsoft Corp and Amazon.com Inc started offering storage for free.

Dropbox has since pivoted to focus on winning business clients, and Houston, the company's CEO, has said that Dropbox is on track to generate more than $1 billion in revenue this year.

The company has expanded its Dropbox Business that requires companies to pay a fee based on the number of employees who use it. The service in January began offering Smart Sync, which allows users to see and access all of their files, whether stored in the cloud or on a local hard drive, from their desktop.