Friday, September 27, 2013

Alibaba to acquire cloud storage service

News this week: The Alibaba Group has announced plans to acquire China-based personal cloud storage service, Kanbox, for an undisclosed sum. Alibaba previously launched its own cloud computing unit, Aliyun, in 2009 and has since been expanding related services.

Kanbox was launched in 2011 and is often referred to as the “Dropbox of China.” The company reportedly has more than 15 million registered users. Its service allows users to upload, download and sync files online, with approximately 20% of its users accessing Kanbox through mobile devices. In 2012, the company raised US$20 million through a venture round exercise.


Florence Shih, an Alibaba Group spokesperson said, “Personal cloud storage will be a fundamental service for mobile users in the future and will serve as an important touch-point to reach a wider user population. We believe this type of service is synergistic with our existing suite of mobile applications and ecosystem.”

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