KanBox, After its VC Funding, Faces Tough Cloud Sync Competition

The cloud storage and syncing service KanBox had some good news today, as DCM’s A-Fund invested in it, along with six other Asian start-ups. It was a convenient cue for us to test out and review what KanBox has to offer.

Inevitably, KanBox will be called a DropBox clone (note that DropBox is blocked in mainland China, for inscrutable reasons), which is unfair considering that the American company didn’t exactly invent cloud syncing. On its own merit, KanBox stands up as a well-built, cross-platform cloud service. It has apps for Windows, Android, iOS, and Symbian, along with an access-anywhere web app in the browser. As a Mac user, I wish it served OS X as well.

On the downside, KanBox offers only 5GB of free cloud storage as standard, which is upgradable to a maximum of 15GB if you use the incentives to entice friends onto the platform. Other services, such as DropBox, SugarSync, or the Chinese Everbox – made by Shanda (NASDAQ:SNDA), the online gaming and cloud services giant – offer more space for backing-up files.

The KanBox.com web app, which enables mp3 streaming in the cloud.

Kanbox’s PC client – as with that of Evernote – actually just enables your desktop OS’ pre-ordained sync folder to initiate two-way sync. There’s no app client as such, other than that it gifts that folder with the ability to push your files through/from the cloud. If you want a fully-fledged desktop app to manage things, then a service like SugarSync will be more your thing.

The Kanbox Android and iOS apps are not as good-looking as Shanda’s, but serve the same purpose as being a conduit for the cloud back-up of your smartphone’s photos or music. A neat extra feature of the KanBox web app is that it allows the streaming of your mp3 files without needing to download them (pictured above).

From Kanbox's Weibo account, a demo booth at a university aims to lure young users on-campus to the service.

Basically, it’s a no-brainer that more Chinese folks will need cloud-based file- and note-syncing as smartphone usage explodes. As nice as KanBox is, it’s undeniable that the DCM-backed start-up already has some big-hitting competition.

Interestingly, KanBox is agressively pursuing younger users by taking touring demo booths around universities in China (pictured right) to rope-in some of China’s youngest smartphone-toting people.

Check out the Kanbox website, or head straight for its iPhone (iTunes link) or Android (Market link) apps.