Dropbox Inc. today revealed plans to raise up to $648 million in its forthcoming initial public offering, which would give it a valuation as high as $8 million when taking into account restricted stock.

The IPO will see the cloud storage company sell 36 million shares for $16 to $18 apiece. In a regulatory filing, Dropbox specified that it intends to issue 27 million shares, while the rest will come from a group of stakeholders that includes co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Drew Houston (pictured).

The company has also revealed that Salesforce.com Inc.’s venture capital arm is set to buy an additional $100 million worth of stock after the IPO. Salesforce is both an investor in Dropbox and an important partner, with the two having announced a collaboration just last week to tighten the integration between their services. Under the deal, Salesforce will be allowed to buy shares for the price set in the IPO.

Reaching even the midpoint of its range will allow Dropbox to raise $612 million. That would make the offering the largest since Snap Inc.’s IPO last year.

Dropbox is taking a similar approach with the move as the social media giant. The stock that the company plans to put up for grabs will carry just 2 percent of the voting rights, according to CNBC. The remaining 98 percent will accounted for by the Class B shares currently held by Houston and other major investors.

In the regulatory filing, Dropbox cautioned that the multitier share structure could lower its valuation. The reason is that it will prevent the company from entering key stock market indices such as the S&P 500 that are tracked by major Wall Street investors. The IPO’s target price range is already poised to put Dropbox well below the $10 billion valuation that it received after its last funding round.

Many eyes will be on the company’s IPO performance. Besides investors, the offering will no doubt also be closely watched by other privately funded tech giants such as Uber Technologies Inc. that have signaled their intent to go public. IPOs have been relatively scarce in recent years, raising fears that the wealth-creation machine that has traditionally powered the tech industry could slow as fewer investors can be involved.

Dropbox’s balance sheet is one particular point of focus. Like Uber, the company has yet to turn a profit, losing $111.7 million last year on revenue of $1.11 billion. A strong public debut would signal that Wall Street may willing to overlook losses for fast-growing IPO hopefuls and could expedite their stock market plans. 

Dropbox is expected to start trading on the Nasdaq late next week under the ticker symbol DBX.

Photo: JD Lasica/Flickr