Box Acquires Startup Subspace for BYOD Security in First Post-IPO Acquisition

Cloud storage provider Box (BOX), fresh off its wildly successful $175 million IPO, has acquired Subspace, a seven-person Berkeley, CA startup specializing in BYOD security for mobile devices in corporate settings.

Neither company disclosed terms of the deal. Subspace, which began operations in December, 2013, is funded by its founders Jon Fan, Ben Kus and Peter Loer, all three of whom will join Box, in addition to the company’s other employees. Subspace will shut down its operations as of April 3, 2015.

Subspace’s containerized browser technology helps companies grant employees access to sensitive data on their personal notebooks, smartphones and tablets even when those documents reside in cloud applications, such as Box’s cloud storage platform.

Box officials said the Subspace team will extend the security, compliance and control features of Box’s content and collaboration platform to any device used to access data, whether it’s a company-provided or personal device.

“Subspace has been working for two years to build world-class security technology to help individuals work from anywhere, while meeting the needs of the most regulated enterprises and security-conscious organizations,” wrote Box chief executive Aaron Levie, in a blog post.

“They pioneered the use of containerized browser technology for managing access to valuable content from the rapidly growing variety of corporate and personal devices used in the workplace,” he said. “At Box, the seven person Subspace team will be advancing our data security efforts.”

The Subspace deal, Box’s first since its IPO, signals the vendor’s intention to acquire complementary companies to extend its services lineup.

For channel partners, which Box has said are critical to its growth strategy, the ability to offer a BYOD security solution–in addition to Box’s new Enterprise Key Management, a content management and collaboration solution to give enterprises full control over their encryption keys–further enhances the vendor’s attractiveness to corporate customers.