Customer engagement tech unicorn Braze has just made its public debut, opening at 34 percent above its offer price, according to Reuters. This values the NYC-based company at about $8 billion — a significant uptick from when it was last valued at $850 million in 2018 after an $80 million Series E.
This news is coming at a time when e-commerce and overall online activity has been surging, prompting a renewed interest in consumer behavior and the tech that helps track and manage it. Braze does this by collecting consumer data and automatically sorting it so that companies can send unique, personalized messaging based on a given person’s information. These messages can be sent by either the company itself, or through third-party channels.
“Great apps became great businesses by building authentic, long-term relationships with their customers,” Braze co-founder and CEO Bill Magnuson said in a recent blog post. “Humans are complicated, dynamic and demanding. Even with the best tools, it is still hard to deliver a consistently excellent customer experience. As consumer expectations and the number of digital channels and devices continue to grow, complexity increases. That makes it even more important for brands to have a sophisticated customer engagement platform like Braze.”
Indeed, the startup has been at this for about a decade, but it has been experiencing especially strong tailwinds amid the pandemic. In fact, over the summer Braze was named as one of NYC’s top private cloud companies by Forbes. It also appears to be in the midst of a massive hiring spree, with more than 120 open tech positions available at its New York headquarters.
Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan and Barclays were the lead underwriters for this public offering. Braze grossed about $435 million from the IPO, and says it intends to use the money for working capital, operating expenses, capital expenditures and potentially, some acquisitions.
“We started our journey 10 years ago with the goal to help brands forge strong bonds with their customers, and over the past few years, we have seen customer engagement become a critical brand priority around the world,” Braze said in a recent LinkedIn post. “Today marks an important milestone in our history, and we look forward to pushing ourselves and our customers to new heights.”
