Braze, Inc.

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Braze, Inc.
FormerlyAppboy Inc. (2011–2017)
Company typePublic
NasdaqBRZE
Industry
Founded2011; 13 years ago (2011)[1]
Founders
  • Mark Ghermezian
  • Bill Magnuson
  • Jon Hyman
Headquarters,
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]

Braze provides customer engagement technology for companies such as MAX,[6] Skyscanner,[7] PureGym,[8] Burger King,[9] Babylon Health,[10] Grubhub,[11][12] NASCAR,[13] OkCupid,[14] TUI,[15] and the NBA.[16]

History[edit]

2011-2016; Founding[edit]

Braze was co-founded as Appboy in 2011 by Bill Magnuson, Jon Hyman, and Mark Ghermezian. The three met after Magnuson and Hyman won the 2011 NYC Disrupt Hackathon for Gilt-ii.[17] The trio raised $3 million from investors in order to start the company.[1][18][19]

In 2016, the company launched Canvas (Cross Channel Journey Management) which allows brands to personalize and automate messages to users as well as incentivize customers with rewards.[20][21]

2017-2021[edit]

In August of 2017, the company received $50 million in Series D Financing[22] and later that year, Appboy rebranded to Braze, Inc.[23]

The company launched Braze Alloys in 2018, a network of over 45 integration applications with companies like Segment, mParticle, and Amplitude.[24] The company also raised $80 million in Series E funding, with a valuation of $850 million, and opened an office in Singapore.[25]

In 2019, Braze added Google AMP for email[26] and passed $100 million in annual recurring revenue.[27] The company was named a leader in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Mobile Marketing Platforms.[24] Also in 2019, Braze was listed by Inc. as one of the Best Places to Work and Forbes listed Braze on its Cloud 100 list.[28]

In 2020, Braze boycotted Facebook advertising and encouraged other brands to do the same over content moderation practices.[29] The company also joined several other marketing tech firms to offer technology grants to Black founded businesses with the Tech for Black Founders program.[30] At this time, Braze was delivering over 100 billion messages each month[31] and had raised over $175 million in funding.[32] That same year, Inc. listed Braze as one of the Best Workplaces for a second year.[33]

Braze also commissioned the Data Privacy Report which provides details about consumers and their privacy concerns.[34] Along with Skyscanner and Apptopia, Braze published the Ready for Takeoff 2021 Travel Industry Trends, Insights and Strategies.[35] Braze introduced integrations with Snowflake and Shopify.[36][37] Forbes named the company on the Cloud 100 list again.[38][39] Braze was also recognized as a leader in the Forrester CCCM Wave in 2021.[40]

In October 2021, Braze filed to go public.[41] On November 17, 2021, Braze’s IPO raised $520 million and had a market valuation of $5.9 billion.[42][43]

2022 - present[edit]

In 2022, Braze released the second annual Global Customer Engagement Review, detailing how retailers approach customer engagement.[44][45]

In 2023, Braze acquired North Star, its exclusive reseller in the ANZ region. North Star is now Braze Australia.[46] In 2023, Braze updated its artificial intelligence capabilities, now collectively named Sage AI by Braze, which consists of advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities that are integrated into the Braze platform, data flows, and execution stack.[47]

References[edit]

  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. ^ 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.
  7. ^ Kiesnoski, Kenneth (June 13, 2021). "Eager to travel, Americans book Sun Belt beach, city stays as pandemic fades". CNBC. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
  8. ^ "PureGym CMO: We're much stronger thanks to Covid". Marketing Week. March 1, 2022. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ "Talking mobile with Babylon Health". mobilemarketingmagazine.com. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
  11. ^ "How Public.com used personalized cross-channel engagement to double attendance at live events". MarTech. February 16, 2022. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
  12. ^ Talbot, Paul. "Inside The Grubhub Marketing Strategy". Forbes. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  13. ^ Zelaya, Ian (December 15, 2020). "How Nascar Got Quarantined Fans to Tune Into Virtual Races". Retrieved August 18, 2021.
  14. ^ "OkCupid: Pick A Pride Parade For A First Date". www.mediapost.com. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  15. ^ "TUI grows holiday bookings on its app by 118% with a cross-channel campaign". Econsultancy. July 12, 2023. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  16. ^ "How the NBA Uses Push Notifications to Celebrate History in the Making". Braze. Retrieved January 30, 2024.
  17. ^ "Hackathon". TechCrunch. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
  18. ^ Rusli, Evelyn (April 4, 2012). "Heirs to Old Money Plunge Into Tech". The New York Times. Retrieved September 20, 2016.
  19. ^ 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.
  20. ^ Securities and Exchange Commission, United States (October 22, 2021). "Braze, Inc. 2021 Form S-1 Registration Statement". SEC.gov.
  21. ^ Page, Rosalyn (July 30, 2020). "CMO's top 8 martech stories for the week". www.cmo.com.au. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  22. ^ "This Startup Raked in $50 Million to Take on Salesforce". Fortune. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
  23. ^ 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.
  24. ^ a b Barry Levine (October 15, 2018). "Braze launches an app ecosystem with more than 45 integrations". MarTechToday. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  25. ^ "Braze: How This Startup Grew Quickly Into A Marketing Automation Giant". Pulse 2.0. October 9, 2018. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
  26. ^ "Daily Buzz: Is AMP for Email Ready for Prime Time?". Associations Now. October 31, 2019. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
  27. ^ Alex Wilhelm (January 2, 2020). "Kicking off 2020 with 4 new members of the $100M ARR club". TechCrunch. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  28. ^ "The 346 Best Places to Work in 2019". Inc. May 16, 2019. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  29. ^ Swant, Marty. "As Civil Rights Groups Ask Marketers To Boycott Facebook, Outdoor Brands Pause Spending". Forbes. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  30. ^ Williams, Colleen (July 6, 2020). "Several MarTech Firms to Give Away Free Services to Black-Founded Startups". AfroTech. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  31. ^ Council, Jared (September 21, 2020). "Behind Snowflake's Debut: Rising Data Demands". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
  32. ^ "Braze Co-Founder & CEO, Bill Magnuson joins Rokt Board of Directors". MarTech Series. February 12, 2020. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
  33. ^ "Everything You Need to Know to Start and Grow Your Business". Inc.com. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
  34. ^ Swant, Marty. "Senator Kirsten Gillibrand Introduces Bill To Create A Data Protection Agency". Forbes. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
  35. ^ Kiesnoski, Kenneth (June 13, 2021). "Eager to travel, Americans book Sun Belt beach, city stays as pandemic fades". CNBC. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
  36. ^ "Braze Enhances Platform, Partners With Movable Ink". www.mediapost.com. Retrieved August 12, 2021.
  37. ^ "Braze Integrates with Shopify". www.destinationcrm.com. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
  38. ^ "America's Best Startup Employers 2021". Forbes. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
  39. ^ "The Cloud 100 2021". Forbes. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
  40. ^ Jepma, William (August 18, 2021). "Key Takeaways: The Forrester Wave: Cross-Channel Campaign Management (Independent Platforms), Q3 2021". Best Marketing Automation Software, Tools, Vendors & Solutions. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
  41. ^ "Customer engagement platform Braze files for a $100 million IPO". Renaissance Capital. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  42. ^ Graham, Megan (November 17, 2021). "Braze Shares Soar in Market Debut". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
  43. ^ Woelfel, Joe. "Braze Raises $520 Million as IPO Prices Above Expected Range". www.barrons.com. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
  44. ^ "Survey: Bad customer experience kills brand loyalty quickly". Chain Store Age. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
  45. ^ "Report: US imports up 8% for 2020 - Ecommerce - BizReport". www.bizreport.com. Retrieved September 3, 2021.
  46. ^ "Braze Completes Acquisition of North Star". MarTech Series. June 2, 2023. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
  47. ^ "Braze unveils Sage AI, a GPT-powered tool for marketers". VentureBeat. June 27, 2023. Retrieved August 29, 2023.

External links[edit]