Braze, Inc.

Braze, Inc.
FormerlyAppboy Inc. (2011–2017)
Company typePublic
Nasdaq: BRZE
Industry
Founded2011; 13 years ago (2011)[1]
Founders
  • Mark Ghermezian
  • Bill Magnuson
  • Jon Hyman
Headquarters
New York, NY
,
U.S.
Key people
  • Bill Magnuson (CEO)
  • Jon Hyman (CTO)
  • Isabelle Winkles (CFO)
  • Myles Kleeger (president, CCO)
  • Priyanka Singh (CPO)
  • Astha Malik (CBO)
[2][3]
ProductsCustomer Engagement Platform
Number of employees
1000+
Websitewww.braze.com

Braze, Inc. is an American cloud-based software company based in New York City.[4][5] It is a customer engagement platform used by businesses for multichannel marketing.[5]

History

Braze was co-founded as Appboy in 2011 by Bill Magnuson, Jon Hyman, and Mark Ghermezian,[6] who raised $3 million from investors to start the company.[1][7][8] In 2016, Appboy launched the CRM and reward system Canvas.[9][10]

In August of 2017, the company received $50 million in Series D Financing[11] and later that year, Appboy rebranded to Braze, Inc.[12] The company launched Braze Alloys in 2018, a network of over 45 integration applications with companies like Segment, mParticle, and Amplitude.[13] The company raised $80 million in Series E funding, with a valuation of $850 million, and opened an office in Singapore.[14]

In 2019, Braze added Google AMP for email[15] and passed $100 million in annual recurring revenue.[16] In 2020, Braze boycotted Facebook advertising and encouraged other brands to do the same over content moderation practices.[17] The company also joined several other marketing tech firms to offer technology grants to Black founded businesses with the Tech for Black Founders program.[18] At this time, Braze was delivering over 100 billion messages each month[19] and had raised over $175 million in funding.[20]

Braze also commissioned the Data Privacy Report which provides details about consumers and their privacy concerns.[21] Along with Skyscanner and Apptopia, Braze published the Ready for Takeoff 2021 Travel Industry Trends, Insights and Strategies.[22] Braze introduced integrations with Snowflake and Shopify.[23][24]

In October 2021, Braze filed to go public.[25] On November 17, 2021, Braze’s IPO raised $520 million and had a market valuation of $5.9 billion.[26][27] In 2023, Braze acquired North Star, its exclusive reseller in the ANZ region. North Star is now Braze Australia.[28] In 2023, Braze updated its artificial intelligence capabilities, and renamed it Sage AI by Braze.[29] In 2024, the company announced further expansion to Brazil, Bucharest, Dubai, and Seoul.[30][31]

Activities

Braze provides customer engagement technology for MAX,[32] Skyscanner,[33] PureGym,[34] Burger King,[35] Babylon Health,[36] Grubhub,[37][38] NASCAR,[39] OkCupid,[40] TUI,[41] and the NBA.[42]

References

  1. ^ a b "Gilt-ii Turns Flash Sales Site Gilt Into An Auction Marketplace". TechCrunch. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
  2. ^ "Braze Inc Company Profile". Bloomberg. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
  3. ^ "Braze names myles kleeger astha malik and priyank". Mediapost. Retrieved January 12, 2023.
  4. ^ Walmsley, Julie (January 31, 2018). "This Company Got to $400 Million Advising Clients to Do This 1 Thing". Inc. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
  5. ^ a b Clancy, Heather (June 30, 2016). "This Startup Helps Marketers Optimize Mobile Outreach". Fortune. Retrieved September 20, 2016.
  6. ^ "Hackathon". TechCrunch. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
  7. ^ Rusli, Evelyn (April 4, 2012). "Heirs to Old Money Plunge Into Tech". The New York Times. Retrieved September 20, 2016.
  8. ^ Empson, Rip (November 23, 2011). "AppBoy Raises A Cool Million To Let App Developers Better Engage And Understand Their User Base". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 20, 2016.
  9. ^ Securities and Exchange Commission, United States (October 22, 2021). "Braze, Inc. 2021 Form S-1 Registration Statement". SEC.gov.
  10. ^ Page, Rosalyn (July 30, 2020). "CMO's top 8 martech stories for the week". www.cmo.com.au. Archived from the original on July 30, 2020. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  11. ^ "This Startup Raked in $50 Million to Take on Salesforce". Fortune. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
  12. ^ Umoh, Ruth (October 10, 2017). "This ex-Google employee says working at the tech giant helped inspire him to start his own business". CNBC. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
  13. ^ Barry Levine (October 15, 2018). "Braze launches an app ecosystem with more than 45 integrations". MarTechToday. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  14. ^ "Braze: How This Startup Grew Quickly Into A Marketing Automation Giant". Pulse 2.0. October 9, 2018. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
  15. ^ "Daily Buzz: Is AMP for Email Ready for Prime Time?". Associations Now. October 31, 2019. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
  16. ^ Alex Wilhelm (January 2, 2020). "Kicking off 2020 with 4 new members of the $100M ARR club". TechCrunch. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  17. ^ Swant, Marty. "As Civil Rights Groups Ask Marketers To Boycott Facebook, Outdoor Brands Pause Spending". Forbes. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  18. ^ Williams, Colleen (July 6, 2020). "Several MarTech Firms to Give Away Free Services to Black-Founded Startups". AfroTech. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  19. ^ Council, Jared (September 21, 2020). "Behind Snowflake's Debut: Rising Data Demands". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
  20. ^ "Braze Co-Founder & CEO, Bill Magnuson joins Rokt Board of Directors". MarTech Series. February 12, 2020. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
  21. ^ Swant, Marty. "Senator Kirsten Gillibrand Introduces Bill To Create A Data Protection Agency". Forbes. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
  22. ^ Kiesnoski, Kenneth (June 13, 2021). "Eager to travel, Americans book Sun Belt beach, city stays as pandemic fades". CNBC. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
  23. ^ "Braze Enhances Platform, Partners With Movable Ink". www.mediapost.com. Retrieved August 12, 2021.
  24. ^ "Braze Integrates with Shopify". www.destinationcrm.com. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
  25. ^ "Customer engagement platform Braze files for a $100 million IPO". Renaissance Capital. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  26. ^ Graham, Megan (November 17, 2021). "Braze Shares Soar in Market Debut". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
  27. ^ Woelfel, Joe. "Braze Raises $520 Million as IPO Prices Above Expected Range". www.barrons.com. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
  28. ^ "Braze Completes Acquisition of North Star". MarTech Series. June 2, 2023. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
  29. ^ "Braze unveils Sage AI, a GPT-powered tool for marketers". VentureBeat. June 27, 2023. Retrieved August 29, 2023.
  30. ^ "Braze's Global expansion, Strengthens APAC, EMEA, and LATAM reach | MarTech Cube". May 15, 2024. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
  31. ^ Hyken, Shep. "The Secret To Successful Customer Engagement: Let Creative Marketers Be Creative". Forbes. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
  32. ^ Rodriguez, Ashley. "How HBO Max's marketing team works to turn free-trial users into paying customers and prevent cancellations". Business Insider. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
  33. ^ Kiesnoski, Kenneth (June 13, 2021). "Eager to travel, Americans book Sun Belt beach, city stays as pandemic fades". CNBC. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
  34. ^ "PureGym CMO: We're much stronger thanks to Covid". Marketing Week. March 1, 2022. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
  35. ^ Machado, Fern (May 17, 2019). "The Inside Story of the Burger King Campaign That Changed the Brand's Entire Outlook on Marketing". Retrieved August 31, 2021.
  36. ^ "Talking mobile with Babylon Health". mobilemarketingmagazine.com. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
  37. ^ "How Public.com used personalized cross-channel engagement to double attendance at live events". MarTech. February 16, 2022. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
  38. ^ Talbot, Paul. "Inside The Grubhub Marketing Strategy". Forbes. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  39. ^ Zelaya, Ian (December 15, 2020). "How Nascar Got Quarantined Fans to Tune Into Virtual Races". Retrieved August 18, 2021.
  40. ^ "OkCupid: Pick A Pride Parade For A First Date". www.mediapost.com. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  41. ^ "TUI grows holiday bookings on its app by 118% with a cross-channel campaign". Econsultancy. July 12, 2023. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  42. ^ "How the NBA Uses Push Notifications to Celebrate History in the Making". Braze. Retrieved January 30, 2024.