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Box has agreed to acquire SignRequest, which would enable it to compete with companies such as DocuSign and Adobe.
Document storage company Box has struck a deal to buy e-signature start-up SignRequest for $55m. In a market that has long been dominated by companies such as DocuSign and Adobe, Box is now hoping to enter the fray.
Amsterdam-based SignRequest was founded in 2014 and now boasts more than 3.5m users. With this deal, Box plans to launch Box Sign, an e-signature service that will be developed using SignRequest’s technology and integrated into the Box platform.
Box Sign is expected to be generally available in the summer of 2021 and will be made available as part of the platform’s business and enterprise plans.
Aaron Levie, co-founder and CEO of Box, said the e-signature market is “ripe for disruption” following a year that has pushed the need to digitise for many businesses.
“For the past several years, we’ve been building the leading content cloud, enabling some of the world’s largest and most regulated organisations to secure, manage and collaborate on their valuable information,” he said.
“Adding e-signature with Box Sign extends our vision for the content cloud and will help our customers accelerate their digital transformation.”
Speaking to TechCrunch, Levie said e-signature has been a “major missing link” on the Box platform.
“When you look at Snowflake, they’re the data cloud. Salesforce is the sales cloud. Adobe is the marketing cloud. We want to build the content cloud. Imagine one platform that can power the entire life cycle of content,” he said.
SignRequest CEO Geert-Jan Persoon added that the last year has shown that people do not need to rely on in-person meetings to do business. “Our mission is to build the most intuitive e-signature technology in the market and we are very excited to join the Box family to scale that vision in the enterprise,” he said.
“Marrying our powerful and affordable e-signature solution with Box’s enterprise-grade content platform will help digitise more transactions.”
The acquisition is anticipated to close in Box’s first fiscal quarter, ending 30 April 2021.
