Box.net raises $18.6 million of $35 million round

The company has raised over $90 million to date

Cloud-based file sharing service Box.net is looking to raise another hefty round, from the looks of an SEC filing that shows that the company has already raised $18.6 million of a $35 million round.  Box raised $48 million from Andreessen Horowitz and DFJ, among others, earlier this year.  This new capital brings Box’s total raised to over $90 million, and Box CEO and co-founder Aaron Levie tells me that the investors included Meritech, Andreessen Horowitz, Emergence, and DFJ Growth.

With over six million users and 300 million documents on file, Box serves over 60,000 businesses, from SMBs to large enterprises.  Some of Box’s more notable clients include Dell, Coach, MTV, Skype, DirecTV, Panasonic, Columbia University, Hearst, and more.  Could it be that businesses are drawn to Box’s unique features and solutions?  Could be.  The platform not only allows businesses to share and manage files from within the cloud, but also manage contracts and negotiate deals within the cloud, assign tasks and track file versions, and share securely without getting bogged down by traditional FTP security solutions.

Additionally, the platform is accessible through mobile apps for iOS and Android, which is a big selling point for Box since a survey found that 68% of Box users work from a mobile device on a daily basis.

“The market is incredibly strong right now, and few enterprise software companies, ever, have achieved the growth rate we are seeing,” said Levie.  “This capital will be used not only to maintain this growth – but push on even harder to fund basic operations, expand our data centers and hire the best talent (engineers, sales reps etc.) that Silicon Valley has to offer.”

Box has raised previous rounds of funding from DFJ, Andreessen Horowitz, Emergence, and Meritech, along with US Venture Partners and Scale Venture Partners.