GoAruna Targets China and Gap Between Box.net, Dropbox

Online file sharing services like Box.net is large enterprise focused while Dropbox is consumer focused. In between them is the small-to-medium enterprise market which is untapped, according to Chad Pankewitz, Founder and CEO at GoAruna.

Founded in 2007, China-based GoAruna, started as an internal file sharing platform with customers in U.S, UK and Canada. As GoAruna becomes popular, Pankewitz and his team expanded the web service to further facilitate collaboration to support a growing number of mobile and international clients. With a clear market focus and a current team of 15 designers, tech, development and operations members in Beijing, growth has been great so far.

“We have had over 100,000 downloads of our mobile iOS and Android apps so far. We are doubling our user base every 4 months and expect that to increase to doubling every 2 months after our launch in China last week. We now have a very international user base with users in over 155 countries,” said Pankewitz.

Focusing on China

GoAruna supports over 15 languages as an effort to localize its service which has seen great growth in many international market. Box.net, however, has a different focus as it serves the U.S market with 85% of their users concentrated in the country. Geographical targeting between two companies are very different. GoAruna’s goal to is to capture China, the largest Internet market in the world with over 450 million Internet users and 850 mobile users.

“After 6 years in the UK, I moved to China to pursue the largest market opportunity in the world. I knew I could leverage my international experience to build a largely successful business in China. I have been here for about 7 years and do not see leaving for the foreseeable future,” said Pankewitz.

There are several upcoming “Dropbox clones” clones and “online hard drive” in China right now. However, Pankewitz said that competition in China is less sophisticated and has limited mobile access.

“Even as competition increases, we believe that our years of experience (servicing our own needs), coupled with clear differentiating SME functionality for International, emerging, mobile markets will set us apart,” he explained.

GoAruna mobile app family

“Plus, we know mobile is going to be the primary platform to interface your content and collaborate with other people via the cloud. By 2012, there will be 600 million smartphones sold globally per year and in a few years there will be 2 billion smartphone users. We are making the best mobile solutions which make people’s ability to access, share, and collaborate as it relates to their digital content easy.”

GoAruna currently has no investors but are in talks with some. Pankewitz feels that it is important to completely bootstrap a new venture and establish the team, platform, customer demand before pursuing outside capital.

“Now that we have proven the viability of our vision with tangible traction, we have begun initial talks with several investors. New capital will be used to fund our very ambitious growth in China and then internationally.”