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Aaron Levie speaking at GeekWire Startup Day.

Box, the Los Altos, California-based online storage company that was started by Mercer Island High School grads Dylan Smith and Aaron Levie, has reportedly filed to raise cash through an initial public offering, according to The Wall Street Journal and Quartz. The documents were filed secretly with the SEC.

Box, which competes against Dropbox, raised $100 million at a $2 billion valuation last December.

Box is often referred to in Seattle as the “startup that got away,” since Levie and Smith moved the company to Silicon Valley shortly after it was started.

Levie commented about that move in a guest post on GeekWire in 2011, writing that the company ran into challenges trying to raise cash in Seattle.

“Given the previous summer’s experience – running dry of contacts in the investor community, attending a few eerily quiet technology meetups, and making acquaintances with a disappointingly low number of like-minded and like-aged entrepreneurs (maybe a total of 1) – we knew right away that northern California was our next and best shot. And it lived up to nearly every expectation we had,” Levie wrote.

Levie remains connected to the Seattle area with family in the region, and he’s been known to rattle the cage of Microsoft on occasion through his fabulously funny Twitter account.

Box’s backers include Andreessen Horowitz, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, New Enterprise Associates, Bessemer Venture Partners and Meritech Capital Partners.

PreviouslyGuess who’s advising Box: Ex-Microsoft exec Sinofsky helping Levie and teamBox CEO Aaron Levie on how Microsoft needs to change (No, he’s not up for the job)… Commentary: Why we had to leave Seattle to build Box.net

 

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