Wheelings & Dealings: Box Buys Streem for Enhanced Cloud-Based File Management

Cloud-based file-management service Box seeks to offer businesses a comprehensive solution to storing and sharing company files over the Internet. However, the company has fallen behind competitors like Dropbox and Google Drive, which offer the same services but at a more competitive price with better options. Box as a business is growing, yet it is quickly outpacing its own revenue with steady but mounting losses.

However, the company isn't out of the fight yet, and announced on Monday that Box had purchased Streem, a Y combinator-backed company that lets its users stream files directly to their desktops. Streem could provide Box with the missing gap in their product, granting a better option for vending this service to desktop setups as opposed to a data center-centric approach. This way, the company can attract large corporate customers that are already used to using desktop applications, as the cloud service would cater to their needs.

Of course, for a company that is already losing money, spending more to get a new service could be a death sentence. The actual price that Box paid to acquire Streem was not publicly disclosed, but the agreement was said to be reached through a combination of cash and company stock. Streem's product will be absorbed into Box's service packages directly, and four of Streem's members will be joining the Box team.

Conversely, Streem has been doing very well for itself as a business, having recently raised over $875,000 to build their platform. Despite the fact that Box's revenue escalated beyond $100 million in the most recent fiscal year, the company's expenses still outweigh this figure. The hope is that Streem can turn this situation around. Box CEO Aaron Levie praised the product as an excellent provider of “enhanced video and media-streaming technology to ensure content is accessible from the cloud as fast as it is locally.” If the gamble doesn't pay off however, Box could be closing up for good.