Social Impact Program

Tech For Black Founders

Applications closed.

Check out the 2023 Cohort of Tech for Black Founders!

Today, only 1% of founders backed by venture capital in the United States are Black. That figure is appalling and speaks to the ways in which the odds are stacked against Black technologists and entrepreneurs. The onus is on us in the tech community to radically change our industry.

In an effort to provide concrete, long-lasting support, Braze along with Alloy partners Amplitude, Branch, mParticle, and Radar launched Tech for Black Founders in June 2020. Through this initiative, companies are making it simple for Black founders to accelerate their growth, increasing their chances at securing funding and building successful and sustainable businesses.

Since opening applications for our third cohort in early 2023, the Braze Tech for Black Founders program now provides a total of 28 early-stage, Black-led startups with free access to its comprehensive customer engagement platform, including 11 women-founded businesses.

Braze is a comprehensive customer engagement platform that powers relevant and memorable experiences between consumers and the brands they love. Context underpins every Braze interaction, helping brands foster human connection with consumers.

Braze Product Overview

Qualification Criteria:

Black Founded Company in the US, Canada or EMEA
Bootstrapped Business or less than $30M in Venture Funding
Under 100 Employees
Compatible SDK and appropriate Engineering/Marketing resources

What to Expect from Braze:

In addition to partner-provided solutions, Tech for Black Founder companies will receive access to the following:

A free Growth package for 12 months, with the opportunity to renew at discounted rates pending business qualifications at time of renewal
Growth 6 onboarding services to get you up and running (live within 6 weeks unless customers also purchase SMS)
Unlimited Push Notifications, Webhooks, and In-App/In-Browser messaging for up to 250,000 Monthly Active Users
Email costs covered up to 10M emails and two IP addresses
1 Currents - Messaging Events integration
Access to our SDKs and APIs
Braze documentation and over 25 hours of educational marketing videos and content in Braze LABs
Access to a dedicated digital community space to network with fellow Black founders in the program