Cloud storage is a hot commodity with Bloomberg reporting that Box, Inc. projects revenue in 2014 to double to more than $200 million. Box, a cloud storage and collaboration company run by 29-year-old co-founder and chief executive Aaron Levie, is heading towards the public domain after confidentially filing its IPO earlier this year.
Box, who got its start with some seed money from Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, is jockeying for space and capturing its fair share in a rapidly growing market alongside tech behemoths like Google (GOOG) and Microsoft (MSFT) , as well as smaller companies like the popular Dropbox, which is also a hot topic in the IPO market.
Scrolling through the small and microcap news today, I stumbled across All Marketing Solutions, Inc. ($PTPF), a developmental-stage growth company that aims to identify emerging companies in need of capital, marketing and management to realize growth. It should be understood that I have no relationship with this company (or any that are mentioned) and as long as it takes you to read this article was about the extent of my due diligence. Call it a 30,000-foot view if you will.
I often try products from small companies based upon press releases to see if they are worth their salt. Many times, they are. For example, Tootie Pie ($TOOTQ) may be going through a bankruptcy, but their pies are fantastic, albeit expensive with shipping costs. Capstone Industries (CAPC) 2-in-1 10 LED wall plates lights work great as a night light and when power goes out (I haven’t tried any of their other products).
Point being, some good products come out of some companies most people haven’t heard of. Reading press releases is the only way to learn about the product and can inspire a look into the fundamentals of the company.
Make no mistakes about it; All Marketing Solutions is about as early as they come, generating no revenue, having no cash, sporting a “going concern” statement in its SEC filings and only five weeks ago launching its first product.
On the positive side of things, they don’t have any real debt to speak of either.
Simply, what caught my eye is the website, OneBigDrive.com. On January 15, the Nevada-based company said that it acquired the technology to allow consumers to consolidate data from multiple cloud storage services, such as GoogleDrive and Microsoft’s SkyDrive (with plans to add DropBox and Box), in one location. On January 28, the website and mobile application employing the technology was launched/announced. For those that tap free cloud storage from other platforms, consolidating them at OneBigDrive.com may be advantageous.
The site currently offers 22 gigabytes of consolidated cloud storage for free and shows that it plans to up that to 50 gigabytes. Additional data storage up to 100 gigabytes will cost users $9.99 per year, or 99 cents per month. I know it’s 83 cents per month, but I’m assuming it’s a one-time payment as compared to paying monthly.
The website claims to have “military-grade” 256-bit AES encryption technologies that protects data before it leaves a user’s computer to head for the cloud with only the user able to decrypt the data for viewing through passwords and login credentials. By logging into the OneBigDrive website, users will have access to all other synced cloud storage accounts without actually logging into those accounts.
From what I see, only Drive and SkyDrive are compatible at this point. As with most other platforms, the benefits include data not being lost as the result of computer crashes and files can be shared with other people via the website.
It’s notable that the system still does not work for Mac users (I just tried it). The company said at the end of January that the Mac version is “planned for release soon.” I also did not see the OneBigDrive application at the Apple Store. I installed the program on a PC and everything has gone smoothly so far with registration and install. I will tinker with files at the end of the day to see how everything flows and comment on the “wall” below on that later.
Today’s press release simply seemed to restate what has already been said, that 22 gigs are available now and the compatible programs with plans to expand. I’ll give it to them that I never saw it before or heard of the company, so it apparently served the purpose to reiterate. As far as an investment, the company is sporting a market cap of $60.3 million with shares at 60 cents in Monday trading.
To me, that presents a risky proposition until it can get the website fully operational and at least start generating some revenue. The concept seems like a good idea and the price is certainly right for 100 gigs of storage when they reach that capacity. The company is also going to need to raise some capital, which to date seems to have been an unsuccessful endeavor for them. Consider that an outfit like Box has raised hundreds of millions to get to where it is today. While I may end up liking the product by the end of the day, my quick litmus test says more corporate progress is necessary for even a speculative investment, but the company may be worth a follow-along to see how it progresses.
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