NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Finally! The long-awaited Box Inc. initial public offering is here. It certainly took long enough. And the company’s CEO agrees:

The IPO of the Los Altos, Calif.-based cloud-storage company founded in 2005 by Aaron Levie got an early pop from Wall Street as the company launched its IPO. The stock was up nearly 60% on Friday, after pricing at $14 Thursday evening, above the original indicative range of $11 to $13.

Box BOX, +0.28% had been slated to debut sometime last spring. But a precipitous downturn in the appetite for its shares, and in particular cloud-storage companies, upended those plans.

Here’s what you need to know about the buzzy cloud-storage company:

Box sold 12.5 million shares for a total of $175 million, though the IPO also carries a greenshoe option for an additional 1.9 million shares, according to its IPO papers.

Box began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, using the apt ticker symbol “BOX.”

The company plans on using 50% of the funds from its sale of shares partly to grow its customer base via sales and marketing.

Box caters its cloud-storage services primarily to businesses, as opposed to retail consumers.

The business of storing data, such as photos documents, etc., securely in the cloud is becoming increasingly competitive. Box faces stiff rivalry from the likes of startup Dropbox Inc., which has traditionally been more consumer-oriented and was said to be eyeing an IPO as well. Computing giants like Microsoft, Apple and Google also are in the mix.

Box has 32 million registered users, and 99% of that user base is made up of employees of Fortune 500 companies, according to its public documents.

Levie owns nearly 4% of the entity, with early investors Draper Fisher Jurvetson, U.S. Venture Partners and Coatue Management owning roughly 40% combined.

Box’s cachet has grown. It is a well-known player among the business and investing world but not a household name. One of its most significant assets might be its CEO Levie, a youthful 30-year-old tech chief, who mixes business attire with garishly colored sneakers. He has business and social savvy but also boasts enough geekiness to play the role of a Silicon Valley rising star.

The company doesn’t make a profit. In fact, it has registered losses due to sales-and-marketing expenses. However, investors are heartened by the view that those losses may be decelerating.

Tech-focused hedge fund Coatue has the right to purchase an additional 10% of the company at the IPO price.

The company received kudos from other giants of the tech world, including Apple Inc. boss AAPL, -3.17% , Tim Cook, who offered this comment on Twitter.

Cook’s plaudits might be telling indicator of the company’s Silicon Valley clout, or at least recognition that the big boys are watching.