Above: Box CEO Aaron Levie is working to bring design thinking to the enterprise
Not to be outdone by competitor Dropbox, file-storage company Box just acquired a Y Combinator startup of its own: Streem.
In short, Streem offers unlimited cloud-based storage that “never runs out.” Through StreemFS, its own filesystem, people can access their files and view them without needing to download copies and keep them on their devices, often a problem when trying to use cloud-storage as an extension of local storage.
Streem’s team and technology will become part of Box’s products, according to Streem’s announcement on its website.
Streem’s key technology also includes and on-the-fly video transcorder that enables instant streaming of videos regardless of their original format. It even adjust the streaming format and quality based on the available internet speed, and dynamically fluctuates it as it goes.
Additionally, its streaming and buffering algorithms mean enable cloud-stored files to open as fast as files stored locally. This is particularly useful for video storage and streaming, which usually means lag and delays.
While Streem’s technology will offer Box the ability to eliminate local storage of file copies, which competing services such as Dropbox and Google Drive still require, Streem is not the only company with this kind of technology. Bitcasa, which raised $11 million last November from Horizons Ventures, Pelion Venture Partners, Samsung Ventures America, Andreesen Horowitz, and First Round Capital.
This is nonetheless terrific news for Streem’s investors, including Grooveshark co-founder Andres Barreto and Ironfire Capital.
Streem was founded in 2013 by Ritik Malhotra and Tanooj Luthra, and was part of Y Combinator’s Summer 2012 class.
We’ve reached out to the company and will update with more information.
Y Combinator is a venture fund which focuses on seed investments to startup companies. It offers financing as well as business consulting along with other opportunities to 2-4 person companies looking to take an idea to a product. Y Co... read more »
Box was founded on a simple, powerful idea: it should be easy for people to access, collaborate, and share all their content, wherever they are. Co-founders Aaron Levie and Dylan Smith, along with our fast-growing team, have since esta... read more »
Streem offers unlimited cloud storage for you to store, stream, and share your media. Streem is a magical drive on your device that lives in the cloud and gives you unlimited space. You can put files into Streem, free up space on yo... read more »
