Several summers ago, an MIT student named Drew Houston showed up for an internship at Bit9, a Waltham network security company. After graduation, he landed a job there as a software engineer, but left in May 2007 to do his own start-up.
Since then, Bit9 has had a pretty good run. It has grown to 150 employees and set up sales offices in Europe and Asia. Among the customers it helps protect from hacker attacks are the Air Force, 7-Eleven, and Toyota Financial Services. Last Monday, it announced a fresh round of venture capital funding: $34.5 million, bringing the total amount Bit9 has raised to more than $70 million.
But the business that Houston started in 2007, Dropbox, has proven to be a rocket ship. Dropbox helps more than 50 million people store and synchronize digital files so the latest version can be accessed from any device. Investors have pegged the San Francisco company’s current value at $4 billion. Steve Jobs, the late Apple chief executive, tried to acquire it. Dropbox has raised $257 million in venture capital — some of it from Sequoia Capital, the same Silicon Valley venture capital firm that just put money into Houston’s old employer, Bit9.
Has there ever been a summer intern who has done so much, so quickly? Forbes estimates Houston’s net worth at $400 million.
Drew Houston and Dropbox: From summer intern at Bit9 in Waltham to tech rockstar in San Francisco - Innovation Economy - Boston.com
Since then, Bit9 has had a pretty good run. It has grown to 150 employees and set up sales offices in Europe and Asia. Among the customers it helps protect from hacker attacks are the Air Force, 7-Eleven, and Toyota Financial Services. Last Monday, it announced a fresh round of venture capital funding: $34.5 million, bringing the total amount Bit9 has raised to more than $70 million.
But the business that Houston started in 2007, Dropbox, has proven to be a rocket ship. Dropbox helps more than 50 million people store and synchronize digital files so the latest version can be accessed from any device. Investors have pegged the San Francisco company’s current value at $4 billion. Steve Jobs, the late Apple chief executive, tried to acquire it. Dropbox has raised $257 million in venture capital — some of it from Sequoia Capital, the same Silicon Valley venture capital firm that just put money into Houston’s old employer, Bit9.
Has there ever been a summer intern who has done so much, so quickly? Forbes estimates Houston’s net worth at $400 million.
Drew Houston and Dropbox: From summer intern at Bit9 in Waltham to tech rockstar in San Francisco - Innovation Economy - Boston.com
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