Cloud content management company Box has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Dutch e-signature startup SignRequest for $55m.

The acquisition will see SignRequest’s e-signature technology integrated into Box Sign, a new product that will be added to Box enterprise plans.

“The past year has fundamentally shifted the way we work, pushing businesses to move critical processes to the cloud,” said Aaron Levie, co-founder and CEO of Box.

“Streamlining digital transactions is integral to digitising business and the e-signature category is ripe for disruption. We’re thrilled to welcome SignRequest to our team.”

The SignRequest deal underpins the latest step in Box’s strategy to offer organisations a single platform to manage their entire content lifecycles in the cloud.

Levie said via Twitter that the mass switch to remote working in 2020 “turbocharged” the demand for digital signatures.

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Box Sign will launch in the summer of 2021 and will allow organisations to digitally sign documents without leaving the Box ecosystem. The San Francisco-headquartered company gives the example of legal teams being able to draft, collaborate then sign contracts all within the Box platform.

“Adding e-signature with Box Sign extends our vision for the content cloud and will help our customers accelerate their digital transformation,” said Levie.

The SignRequest acquisition is expected to close in Box’s fiscal first quarter, ending 30 April 2021.

“The last year has shown us that we can effectively work virtually and that we don’t need to rely on in-person meetings to get business done,” said Geert-Jan Persoon, CEO of SignRequest.

“Our mission is to build the most intuitive e-signature technology in the market and we are very excited to join the Box family to scale that vision in the enterprise. Marrying our powerful and affordable e-signature solution with Box’s enterprise-grade content platform will help digitise more transactions.”


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