Dot-com survivor Accellion Inc launches kiteworks for secure file sharing

By Nicel Jane Avellana

Jan 28, 2014 11:05 AM EST

With valuations of $2 billion and close to $10 billion, respectively, Box Inc and Dropbox Inc are IPO candidates. Both tech vendors provide software that allows colleagues to share and collaborate on files. Accellion Inc, a dot-com bust survivor, is now making a play in the field led by the two file sharing firms, The Wall Street Journal blog Venture Capital Dispatch reported.   

Through its new product called kiteworks, Accellion is now joining technology's latest boom. The product is designed with the idea that the most important devices of employees are mobile and recognizing their need to be able to share files wherever they are and whatever device they use, the report said.

A source told The WSJ that the firm now has a value of around $500 million and is mulling an IPO in two years. The new software integrates the two older but commonly-used systems of corporate content management, Microsoft SharePoint and EMC Corp's Documentum. It enables users to make and edit Microsoft documents on a user-friendly interface, the report said.

For Accellion Chief Financial Officer Glen Segal, security is what sets kiteworks apart from its competitors. It has a three-tiered architecture that can keep customers' data safe. The company found out that its architecture is like that designed by a big bank after falling victim to a security breach, the report said. Segal added, "Getting to the data is three orders of magnitude harder."

Accellion began in 1999 as a cloud storage firm. It was able to obtain fresh capital after the dot-com bust as its technology continued to improve. It last raised funds amounting to $35 million in 2011 and has had a positive cash flow for the past few years. It now serves customers like Procter & Gamble, Kaiser Permanente, NASA and other clients that value security so highly that they want to have the option of using software on a private cloud, the report said. 

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