Dropbox targets AI infrastructure gains with $350m Tigris Data acquisition

Dropbox has announced plans to acquire Tigris Data in a move the company said will “accelerate its expansion into AI infrastructure” services.

Founded in 2022, Tigris Data provides Amazon S3-compatible object storage designed specifically for AI workloads and developer applications, allowing users to work across different cloud and compute environments.

Valued at $350 million, the deal marks both Dropbox’s largest-ever acquisition and a significant step in its evolution beyond offering traditional file storage services.

Commenting on the acquisition, Tigris co-founder and CEO Ovais Tariq said the deal will help meet growing customer demands for flexible AI storage capabilities.

“Dropbox brings nearly two decades of experience operating storage infrastructure at scale,” Tariq said.

“Combining that experience with our product and close relationships with developers would help us support larger workloads while keeping our focus on reliability, developer experience, and direct technical collaboration.”

Upon closing the acquisition, Dropbox said it plans to add new file system and content-processing capabilities to accommodate AI-related demands.

Content processing enables developers to turn documents, images, audio, and video into useful inputs for AI, while filesystem capabilities will provide a “persistent place” to manage files, the company said.

Dropbox unveils DBX Agent Cloud

The Tigris Data acquisition will underpin the launch of a new service from Dropbox; DBX Agent Cloud. This is a standalone S3-compatible object storage service which draws directly upon the startup’s capabilities.

Companies can use the service independently while still using familiar tools and applications built for S2, the company noted.

DBX Agent Cloud will essentially act as a new storage and data layer designed to streamline AI application and agent development, according to the firm.

Indeed, the service forms a key part of Dropbox’s ongoing infrastructure focus, and builds on a long-running trend at the company.

In 2016, the firm ditched Amazon S3 and began hosting data in its own custom-built infrastructure as part of a project known as ‘Magic Pocket’.

Streamlined data processing

AI applications and agents require access to training datasets, model artifacts, images, video, and other content hosted across various cloud and compute providers.

With DBX, Dropbox said it aims to provide users with a single source to streamline data flows.

“DBX Agent Cloud is designed to work alongside the clouds, compute providers, and developer platforms where customers already build and run their applications,” the company said in a blog post.

“Dropbox’s focus is on giving those applications a consistent home for their content, wherever they run.”

Ashraf Alkarmi, co-CEO of Dropbox, said the launch addresses a recurring challenge for enterprises ramping up AI adoption, namely gleaning value from internal datasets.

“The value of AI depends on the content and context it can work with,” Alkarmi said.

“We’re bringing AI to the work people already keep in Dropbox and extending our storage expertise to companies building AI applications. Across both, our goal is to give customers the freedom to choose how they use AI while keeping control of the content they depend on.”

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