Braze, a US-based customer engagement software producer that counts financial services firm Citi among its shareholders, has set the range for an initial public offering set to raise up to $402m.
The company plans to issue 6.7 million shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market priced between $55 and $60 each. The underwriters are set to have a 30-day option to buy up to 1.3 million more shares, potentially boosting it to $480m.
Founded in 2011 as Appboy, Braze has built a software platform which helps consumer goods providers engage with and understand their customers more thoroughly. It has more than 1,000 customers and made a $25.8m net loss in the six months ending July 2021, from nearly $104m in revenue.
The offering comes in the wake of approximately $175m in funding. Meritech Capital Partners led the company’s last round, an $80m series E in 2018 valuing it at $850m, investing together with Spark Capital and Cross Creek.
Citi has not revealed when it invested in Braze but its corporate venturing unit, Citi Ventures, lists it as a portfolio company. Its earlier backers include Iconiq Capital, Rally Ventures, Battery Ventures, Ridge Ventures, Blumberg Capital, T5 Capital, Bullpen Capital, InterWest Partners, Icon Venture Partners and Accelerator Ventures.
The investors holding 5% or more of Braze’s shares are Battery Ventures, the owner of a 21.4% stake, followed by Iconiq Capital (16.5%), a vehicle called MCG7 Capital (10.3%), Rally Ventures (5.9%), Meritech (5.7%), Blumberg Capital (5.5%) and InterWest (5.4%).
Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Securities, Barclays Capital, Piper Sandler, William Blair, Canaccord Genuity, Cowen and Company, JMP Securities, Needham & Company, Oppenheimer, Raymond James & Associates and Loop Capital Markets are the underwriters for the IPO.
