Dropbox announced Thursday that it plans to acquire Tigris Data, an S3-compatible object storage startup built for AI workloads, in a deal valued at $350 million. The purchase appears to be Dropbox's largest acquisition to date, and the company paired it with the launch of DBX Agent Cloud, a storage and data layer for companies and developers building AI applications and agents.
Dropbox expects the transaction to close in the fourth quarter of 2026. Its press release, filed with the SEC, does not disclose the price or how the deal splits between cash and stock, and it lists among its risks that the planned acquisition may not close within the expected timeframe or at all.
Tigris describes itself as a globally distributed, S3-compatible object storage platform purpose-built for AI. The company was founded by former Uber engineers who helped build the ride-hailing company's storage infrastructure. Its pitch to developers is that they can store and access data across clouds without vendor lock-in or egress fees.
Key facts
- 01Dropbox plans to acquire Tigris Data in a deal valued at $350 million, expected to close in Q4 2026.
- 02Tigris is a globally distributed, S3-compatible object storage platform founded by former Uber engineers.
- 03Tigris raised a $25 million Series A in October 2025 led by Spark Capital, with Andreessen Horowitz participating.
- 04DBX Agent Cloud launches with standalone S3-compatible object storage; filesystem and content processing come next.
- 05Dropbox AI features are rolling out to more than 70,000 teams in the US, UK and Australia, with wider availability in 2027.
The core of the Tigris product is what the company calls intelligent data placement: it automatically positions data closer to the users and computing resources that need it, cutting access times without customers having to manage replication and caching themselves. Tigris raised a $25 million Series A in October 2025, led by Spark Capital with participation from Andreessen Horowitz.
“Our customers depend on Tigris to keep their applications running, and their needs keep growing,”— Ovais Tariq, Co-founder and CEO of Tigris
Dropbox said the planned acquisition will help accelerate its entry into the market for AI infrastructure, building on nearly two decades of experience operating storage systems at scale. Tigris co-founder and CEO Ovais Tariq said combining that experience with Tigris's product and developer relationships would help it support larger workloads while keeping its focus on reliability and developer experience.
DBX Agent Cloud is the first product of that strategy. It starts with standalone, S3-compatible object storage that companies can buy independently and use with familiar tools and applications built for Amazon S3. Dropbox plans to add filesystem and content-processing capabilities next.
The same announcement covered Dropbox's own AI features, which are rolling out to more than 70,000 teams. The initial release targets eligible Standard and Advanced teams in the US, UK and Australia, starting in English, with broader availability planned for 2027. Dropbox is adding connections to ChatGPT, Claude and Muse, along with a choice of models.
“The value of AI depends on the content and context it can work with,”— Ashraf Alkarmi, Co-CEO of Dropbox
Ashraf Alkarmi, co-CEO of Dropbox, framed the two moves as one strategy: bringing AI to the files people already keep in Dropbox, and extending the company's storage expertise to businesses building AI applications. He said the goal across both is to let customers choose how they use AI while keeping control of the content they depend on.
Dropbox said it currently has no plans to reduce headcount as part of the Tigris acquisition.
Dropbox reports more than 700 million registered users across approximately 180 countries. With DBX Agent Cloud, it is now also selling storage directly to companies and developers building AI applications and agents.
Working on something we should cover, or seeing a story we missed? Send leads, documents, or feedback to hello@aichatdaily.com. For sensitive tips, see our secure tips page for Signal and PGP options.
Spotted an error? Email hello@aichatdaily.com with the URL and the issue, or read our full corrections policy.
