Dropbox
Summary ipo Updated Mar 19, 2026This profile is AI-generated. If you spot an error, please help us fix it by sharing a URL to the correct information.
Investors
Founders
About
Dropbox is a cloud storage and file-sharing platform founded in 2007 by MIT students Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi 12. The company participated in Y Combinator’s Summer 2007 batch, receiving an initial $15,000 investment for 7% equity 23. Sequoia Capital provided $1.2 million in convertible debt shortly after 3. Dropbox went public on the Nasdaq on March 23, 2018 1. Sequoia Capital owned approximately 25% of the company before the IPO, yielding a return of $2-3 billion on its early investments 3.
Funding History
| Round | Date | Amount | Lead Investor(s) | Key Co-Investors | Valuation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seed (YC S07) | 2007-06-26 | $15K | Y Combinator | — | — 6 |
| Seed Extension | 2007-09 | $1.2M | Sequoia Capital | — | — 37 |
| Series A | 2008-10 | $6M | Sequoia Capital | Accel Partners (via Sameer Gandhi, who led the Sequoia seed before moving to Accel) | $25M 313 |
| Series B | 2011-10-18 | $250M | Index Ventures | Benchmark, Goldman Sachs, Greylock Partners, IVP, RIT Capital Partners, Valiant Capital Partners, Sequoia Capital, Accel Partners, Hadi Partovi, Ali Partovi | $4B 89 |
| Series C | 2014-01 | $350M | BlackRock | Fidelity, Salesforce | $10B |
| IPO (NASDAQ: DBX) | 2018-03-23 | $756M | — | — | $9.2B (at $21/share offer); closed day one ~$12.7B 101112 |
Notes: Seed round reflects YC’s initial check dated 2007-06-26 6; Demo Day (Mountain View) followed on 2007-08-16, leading to the Sequoia seed extension in September 2007 67. IPO pricing occurred after market close on 2018-03-22 at $21/share (above the $18-$20 range); shares began trading on Nasdaq on 2018-03-23 and opened at $29 101112.
What Investors Say
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What Founders Say
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Sources
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Dropbox, Wikipedia, accessed March 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dropbox↩↩↩
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Medium, “Dropbox — The Idea, Viral Video Breakthrough, Y-Combinator,” accessed March 2026. https://medium.com/the-entrepreneurs-manifesto/dropbox-the-idea-viral-video-breakthrough-y-combinator-3016ca1ca52b↩↩↩
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Equities.com, “How Sequoia’s $2 Billion Dropbox Win Became as Big as It Is,” accessed March 2026. https://www.equities.com/impact-investing/how-sequoia-s-2-billion-dropbox-win-became-as-big-as-it-is/↩↩↩↩↩↩
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Clay, “How Much Did Dropbox Raise? Funding & Key Investors,” accessed March 2026. https://www.clay.com/dossier/dropbox-funding↩
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PitchBook, “A brief history of Dropbox, from founding to imminent IPO,” accessed March 2026. https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/a-brief-history-of-dropbox-datagraphic↩
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Y Combinator, “Congrats Dropbox!” (noting Jessica Livingston wrote Dropbox’s first investment check on June 26, 2007; Mountain View Demo Day on August 16, 2007), accessed April 2026. https://www.ycombinator.com/blog/congratsdropbox↩↩↩↩
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TechCrunch, “Secretive Storage Company Dropbox Took Sequoia Funding in 2007,” September 4, 2008, accessed April 2026. https://techcrunch.com/2008/09/04/secretive-storage-company-dropbox-took-sequoia-funding-in-2007/↩↩↩
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Business Wire, “Dropbox Raises $250 Million in Series B Funding,” October 18, 2011, accessed April 2026. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20111018006048/en/Dropbox-Raises-250-Million-in-Series-B-Funding↩↩
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TechCrunch, “Dropbox Raises $250M In Funding, Boasts 45 Million Users,” October 18, 2011, accessed April 2026. https://techcrunch.com/2011/10/18/dropbox-raises-250m-in-funding-boasts-45-million-users/↩↩
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Bloomberg, “Dropbox Raises $756 Million After Pricing IPO Above Range,” March 22, 2018, accessed April 2026. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-22/dropbox-said-to-raise-756-million-after-pricing-ipo-above-range↩↩↩
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CNBC, “Dropbox (DBX) IPO: Stock starts trading on the Nasdaq,” March 23, 2018, accessed April 2026. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/23/dropbox-dbx-ipo-stock-starts-trading-on-the-nasdaq.html↩↩↩
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SiliconANGLE, “After raising $756M in its IPO, Dropbox sees shares jump 36% in market debut,” March 22, 2018, accessed April 2026. https://siliconangle.com/2018/03/22/market-rout-dropbox-hikes-ipo-price-21-share-raising-tidy-756m/↩↩↩
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TechCrunch, “Dropbox Raised $6 Million Sequoia-Led Series A In October 2008,” November 24, 2009. Accessed July 2026. https://techcrunch.com/2009/11/24/dropbox-sequoia-funding/ — Direct quote: “Dropbox did close a Series A funding round, but it was for $6 million, and it was back in October 2008. And it was led by Sequoia, not Accel (though Accel did participate in the round).” Explains Sameer Gandhi led the Sequoia seed in fall 2007, moved to Accel in spring 2008, and Sequoia “cut him in” on the Series A while he was at Accel. Gandhi retained board seat via Accel. ↩