Braze (Nasdaq: BRZE), the comprehensive customer engagement platform that powers interactions between consumers and the brands they love, has expanded its product grant program, previously known as Tech for Black Founders, which will now be called Tech For an Equitable Future. The program will offer 20 companies with underrepresented founders – including Black and women entrepreneurs – with 12 months of free access to Braze technology and supporting resources that enable business growth and scalability. Applications are now being accepted for the Tech for an Equitable Future product grant program through Jan. 19, 2024.

"We are proud to announce the expansion of our successful product grants program to help further level the playing field for marginalized founders," said Rod McLeod, VP of Social Impact at Braze. "With equity serving as a cornerstone of our social impact initiatives at Braze, we remain steadfast in our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. With the next chapter of Tech for an Equitable Future, our aim is to continue to create opportunities that catalyze business growth by fostering a more inclusive and equitable future."

In 2022, only 1% of founders backed by venture capital in the United States are Black, and companies founded solely by women garnered just 2% of the total capital invested in VC-backed startups in the United States. These figures underscore the disparity faced by Black and female entrepreneurs in attaining equitable access to foundational funding. Today, Braze has 24 Black-founded businesses, including 10 women-founded startups, that are active in the program, totaling $735,000 in annualized Braze product value.

“Joining the Tech for an Equitable Future program has enabled us to scale our customer communications with Braze, a leading provider in the market, in order to drive stronger business outcomes,” said Mandy Bowman, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Official Black Wall Street, an app and digital platform helping consumers find, review, and shop from Black-owned businesses. “Leveraging Braze, we’ve been able to improve our customer experience and boost retention through personalized and streamlined messages to our users, despite having limited marketing resources.”

Grant Details and Process:

To be eligible for the grant program, applicants must meet all of the following criteria:

• Underrepresented-founded companies, including those with Black and women founders, in APAC, Canada, EMEA, and the U.S.;
• Bootstrapped business or less than $30M in VC funding;
• Have fewer than 100 employees; and
• Have compatible SDK and appropriate Engineering/Marketing resources.

Braze offers technology that allows recipients to capture, analyze and act on customer data to engage their customers across channels and create personalized experiences. For the 20 businesses selected to participate, the program will offer:

• Free platform access for 12 months, with the opportunity to renew at discounted rates pending business qualifications at the time of renewal
• Onboarding services with over 25 hours of educational content to get you up and running quickly
• Unlimited Push Notifications, Webhooks, and In-App/In-Browser messaging for up to 250,000 Monthly Active Users
• Email costs covered up to 10 million emails and two IP addresses
• One Currents Connector - Messaging Events integration
• Access to our SDKs and APIs
• Access to a dedicated Customer Success Manager
• Free Braze certifications, strategic technical office hours, and webinars
• Access to virtual founder event programming and digital community spaces to network with fellow founders in the program

Learn more about eligibility and apply here.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, statements regarding anticipated benefits of, and social impact from, the Tech for an Equitable Future Program. These forward-looking statements are based on the current assumptions, expectations and beliefs of Braze, and are subject to substantial risks, uncertainties and changes in circumstances that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Further information on potential factors that could affect Braze results are included in Braze’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended July 31, 2023, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on September 8, 2023 and the other public filings of Braze with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the views of Braze only as of the date of this press release, and Braze assumes no obligation, and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

About Braze

Braze is a leading comprehensive customer engagement platform that powers interactions between consumers and brands they love. With Braze, global brands can ingest and process customer data in real time, orchestrate and optimize contextually relevant, cross-channel marketing campaigns and continuously evolve their customer engagement strategies. Braze has been recognized as one of Fortune’s 2023 Best Workplaces in New York, 2023 UK Best Workplaces for Women by Great Place to Work, and Fortune’s 2022 Best US Workplaces in Technology. The company is headquartered in New York with 10+ offices across North America, Europe, and APAC. Learn more at braze.com.

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