Congratulations to Braze on its IPO

Connecting brands and consumers through more authentic engagement

By The Blumberg Capital Team

This week, portfolio company Braze (NASDAQ: BRZE), a leading customer engagement platform, began its new chapter as a public company. Congratulations to co-founders Mark Ghermezian, Bill Magnuson and Jon Hyman on your vision and leadership in building an exceptional team, technology and business that is transforming how brands nurture authentic relationships with customers. We are proud to have been part of Braze’s exciting journey from inception through IPO. 

Blumberg Capital led Braze’s first institutional Seed round in 2011. We shared the founders’ passion for the opportunities presented by the rapidly growing mobile ecosystem. At South by SouthWest conference (SXSW) in March 2011, we agreed on the business model and terms, organized the investment syndicate and did crucial due diligence. Together, we set out to build a B2B SaaS company that would capitalize on behavioral analytics data and mobile technology to help brands connect with their customers to improve user experience, engagement and satisfaction. 

Shortly thereafter, Braze closed on the $1M Seed round, built out its founding team and  introduced a beta product, as covered by TechCrunch. This is a great example that successful companies can start with a small amount of capital, if the founders articulate a clear vision and bring technological prowess, domain knowledge, persistence and a commitment to serve their customers. Through the years, we’ve been pleased to support Braze by serving on the board, recruiting leadership, bringing customers and strategic partners and providing capital and counsel.

Braze has evolved over three generational shifts toward 1) empowering always-on, mobile consumers 2) helping brands build first-party relationships, using first-party data and 3) fostering interdisciplinary collaboration to better serve brand customers. Braze’s market opportunity has expanded to serve both disruptors and traditional enterprises around the world. The pandemic lockdowns further accelerated the opportunity, as brands pivoted to deliver effective digital experiences to consumers at home. Today, Braze serves over a thousand of brands, 3 billion monthly users and has managed over a trillion messages.

“Braze’s IPO highlights the company’s success and the massive opportunity ahead to lead the evolution in customer engagement management,” said Bruce Taragin, managing director at Blumberg Capital.

Congratulations to team Braze – your adventure continues!