Braze Expands Tech For Black Founders Program To Support Other Underrepresented Founders

Braze has expanded its product grant program, previously known as Tech for Black Founders – now called Tech for an Equitable Future.

Braze is a comprehensive customer engagement platform that powers relevant and memorable experiences between consumers and the brands they love.

Tech for Black Founders was launched in 2020 to address findings that only 1% of US founders backed by venture capital are Black.

Today Braze’s program has 24 Black-founded businesses, including ten women-founded startups, active in the program, totaling $735,00 in annualized Braze product value.

Tech For An Equitable Future

The new program, Tech for an Equitable Future, aims to remove barriers for underrepresented founders.

The program will offer 20 companies with underrepresented founders, including Black and women entrepreneurs, 12 months of free access to the Braze platform and supporting services.

The expanded program will continue this effort by including other underrepresented founders, including women founders, who garner just 2% of the capital invested in VC-backed startups in the US.

“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 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.”

How To Apply For The Program

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

• Underrepresented-founded companies, including those with Black and women founders
• Bootstrapped business or less than $30 million in VC funding
• Have fewer than 100 employees and
• Have compatible SDK and appropriate Engineering/Marketing resources.

If 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, unlimited push notifications, webhooks, in-app messaging, and email costs cover up to 10 million emails, and two IP addresses are also included.

They will also receive free Braze certifications, strategic technical office hours, and webinars alongside access to SDKs and APIs.

Applications are open from December 5, 2023, to January 19, 2024.