Dropbox Shares Leap in I.P.O., and Silicon Valley Smiles
But the strong reception for Dropbox, which sells subscriptions to software
that lets users collaborate and share files online, suggests that the public markets remain willing to offer a crucial exit point for early-stage investors in the largest private Silicon Valley start-ups, even amid broader concerns about large tech companies.
And venture capital money meant that highly valued start-ups — “unicorns,” in Silicon Valley parlance
— were able to remain private for longer without turning to the public markets for fund-raising.
By MATT PHILLIPSMARCH 23, 2018
Dropbox, the file-sharing company and Silicon Valley darling, had a strong market debut Friday, a reassuring sign for the technology industry
and for the investors who have billions locked up in other highly valued but privately held start-ups.
Between 2006 and 2016, the last year with available data, economic output in the metropolitan area
that roughly corresponds to Silicon Valley rose more than 5 percent a year, while the average growth rate in American metro areas was 1.2 percent.
Given the huge values attached to those companies — Uber alone is valued at roughly $68 billion
— access to the capital available in public markets has become all the more important.
window, despite a week of incredible volatility and distraction about global trade,” said Bryan Schreier, a Dropbox board member
and partner at Sequoia Capital, the large venture capital firm that was one of Dropbox’s early investors.
