Dropbox likely to partner with mobile service providers & web companies to enter India

San Francisco-based Dropbox Inc., a cloud storage company is likely to partner with Indian mobile service providers and web companies to take its product to the country's rapidly growing smartphone and internet user base, according to a report by The Economic Times.

"For us it doesn't make sense to have a local sales team in the short term, but we will work through partners," Sujay Jaswa, VP and business development head at Dropbox told ET, adding that the firm is in talks with several Indian companies, including large corporations, which could be potential customers. However, he declined to name the companies as the talks are still at an early stage.

Last month, Dropbox had raised $325 million from as many as 72 investors at $10 billion valuation, with room to go to a higher total of around $450 million, as per its regulatory filing with US SEC. Prior to this, the company was sewing a deal worth $250 million from a fund managed by BlackRock Inc. and other investors, valuing it at $10 billion. Other Dropbox investors, include Goldman Sachs, Sequoia Capital, Index Ventures and Accel Partners.

Founded in 2007 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduates Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi, Dropbox was last valued at about $4 billion after a 2011 funding round. It has scaled up since then and currently claims to have over 200 million users. The company primarily competes with Box, which is preparing to go public this year. Dropbox is also considered to be an IPO candidate.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)