Braze, a US-based customer engagement technology developer backed by financial services firm Citi, raised $80m on Wednesday in a series E round led by venture capital firm Meritech Capital Partners.
VC firms Spark Capital and Cross Creek also participated in the round, which Braze said more than doubled its valuation to $850m.
Founded as AppBoy, Braze has created a platform that delivers marketing to customers through a combination of methods including push notifications, apps and email. Citi has not revealed when it invested in Braze but its Citi Ventures unit lists it as a portfolio company.
Braze has now raised about $175m in total. Meritech had previously invested an undisclosed amount in the company in September 2017, a month after it raised $50m in a series D round led by Iconiq Capital that included Battery Ventures and all its existing backers.
Earlier investors in Braze include Ridge Ventures (formerly known as IDG Ventures USA), Blumberg Capital, T5 Capital, Bullpen Capital, InterWest Partners, Icon Venture Partners and Accelerator Ventures.
Bill Magnuson, Braze’s co-founder and CEO, said: “Coupled with ever increasing customer expectations, the relentless advance of technology is creating an immense challenge for brands to maintain and strengthen their customer relationships over time.
“We have built Braze to be the backbone of customer engagement, helping brands combine our sophisticated technology with a fundamentally human approach that helps turn that challenge into opportunity.”
