−Removed: We are a leading specialized storage cloud platform, providing businesses and consumers cloud services to store, use, and protect their data in an easy and affordable manner.
+Added: We are a leading specialized storage cloud platform, providing cloud services to store, use, and protect data in an easy and affordable manner.
We provide these cloud services through a purpose-built, web-scale software infrastructure built on commodity hardware.
−Removed: We believe that by substantially reducing the complexity and frustration of storing, using, and protecting data, we can empower customers to focus on their core business operations.
+Added: We believe that by offering an easy to use, cost-effective cloud storage solution, and thereby substantially reducing the cost, complexity and frustration of storing, using, and protecting data, we can empower customers to focus on their core business operations.
Through our blog and culture of transparency, we have built a community of millions of readers and brand advocates.
−Removed: Referrals from our community of brand advocates, com bined with our highly efficient and primarily self-serve customer acquisition model and an ecosystem of thousands of partners, have allowed us to attract more than 500,000 customers as of December 31, 2022 .
−Removed: These customers use our Storage Cloud platform across more than 175 countries to grow and protect their business data on our over 2.5 exabytes, or 2.5 trillion megabytes, of data storage under management.
−Removed: At its founding, Backblaze set out to simplify the process of storing, using, and protecting data.
−Removed: Over the following years we focused relentlessly on cutting away the complexity common among diversified cloud vendors’ services and legacy on-premises system vendors.
+Added: Referrals from our community of brand advocates, com bined with our highly efficient and primarily self-serve customer acquisition model and an ecosystem of thousands of partners, have allowed us to attract more than 500,000 customers as of December 31, 2023, and our sales and channel efforts have supported us acquiring larger customers.
+Added: These customers use our Storage Cloud platform across more than 175 countries to grow and protect their business data on our over 3 billion gigabytes , of data storage under management.
+Added: At its founding, Backblaze set out to dramatically simplify the process of storing, using, and protecting data.
+Added: Over the following years we focused relentlessly on cutting away the complexity common among traditional cloud vendors’ services and legacy on-premises system vendors.
Today, we believe our solutions are differentiated by their ease of use and affordability.
−Removed: We believe that focusing on storage use cases and promoting an open ecosystem helps position us to integrate well with a broad range of partners.
+Added: We believe that focusing on storage use cases and promoting an open cloud ecosystem helps position us to integrate well with a broad range of partners.
From our straightforward pricing model, to our transparent communication with customers, to the popular and insightful content on our blog—we believe we have established ourselves as an open and trusted provider and partner.
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The amount of data stored in this cloud service can scale up and down as needed on a pay-as-you-go basis, or can be paid for on a capacity basis for greater predictability, which we refer to as our B2 Reserve offering.
−Removed: This Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) enables use cases including backups, multi-cloud, application storage, and ransomware protection.
+Added: This Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) enables use cases including backups, multi-cloud, application storage, ransomware protection, and storage for AI/ML workflows.
• Backblaze Computer Backup:
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Our solutions are designed for individuals and businesses of all sizes and across all industries but have a particularly strong appeal to mid-market organizations (which we define as organizations with 10 to 999 employees) due to their desire for easy-to-use and cost-effective solutions.
−Removed: We have a go-to-market model that was primarily built on a self-serve selling motion.
+Added: Our go-to-market model is a layered approach that includes our self-service motion and our sales driven motion that focuses on larger customers.
+Added: The sales driven motion includes our direct sales team that contracts directly with customers and our channel sales team that contracts sales through our channel partners.
+Added: More recently, we also added our Powered By Backblaze program that enables third parties to integrate Backblaze and thus offer cloud storage as part of their product offering.
Prospective customers find us through a variety of channels including our website, partners, and brand advocates.
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Our free trial and self-serve sign-up processes help convert our blog readers and referrals from our brand advocates into customers, with approximately 76% of our total revenue in 2023 coming from self-serve customers.
−Removed: Our technology, channel, affiliate, and managed service provider (MSP) partners help expand use cases and sales channels and attract customers, thereby increasing usage of our Storage Cloud.
−Removed: In addition to our self-serve selling motion, we have a sales-assisted selling motion to identify opportunities to increase business with existing customers and to assist larger customers in adopting our services.
−Removed: Our sales-assisted selling motion customers are frequently significantly larger in terms of average revenue per customer than our self-serve customers.
+Added: Our technology, channel and managed service provider (MSP) partners help expand use cases and sales channels and attract customers, thereby increasing usage of our Storage Cloud.
+Added: Our sales driven selling motion focuses on selling our cloud services to larger customers and opportunities to increase revenue with existing customers.
+Added: Customers acquired by our sales motion frequently have a significantly larger average revenue per customer than our self-serve customers.
Substantially all of our revenue is recurring in nature.
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We can further expand our relationships with our customers when they adopt new features and use cases that lead to increased usage of our platform.
−Removed: Our land-and-expand strategy is evidenced by our overall net revenue retention rate of 113% and 111% as of December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively.
−Removed: information about net revenue retention rate and how it is calculated, please see the section titled “Key Business Metrics” in Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Result of Operations included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
−Removed: Our B2 Cloud Storage revenue grew by 46% during the year ended December 31, 2022 and our Computer Backup cloud service revenue grew by 17% during the year ended December 31, 2022.
−Removed: Our ecosystem of partners—including technology and developer partners, channel partners, and MSPs—helps us expand our platform in existing and new markets.
−Removed: Our partners leverage our cloud services to provide storage solutions to their customers or our mutual customers and in turn, we are able to expand our use cases and overall reach.
−Removed: • Technology and Developer Partners.
−Removed: Our platform, alongside the platforms of our technology and developer partners, enables software developers to efficiently build their applications and provides a cloud storage destination for partners whose products require storage to serve their customers.
+Added: Our B2 Cloud Storage revenue grew b y 40% during the year ended December 31, 2023 and our Computer Backup cloud service revenue grew by 7% during the year ended December 31, 2023.
+Added: Our ecosystem of partners—including tech nology partners, channel partners, and MSPs—helps us expand our platform in existing and new markets.
+Added: • Technology Partners.
+Added: Our platform, alongside the platforms of our technology partners, enables software developers to efficiently build their applications and provides a cloud storage destination for partners whose products require storage to serve their customers.
Partners providing software, hardware, and SaaS services to perform backups, synchronize data, manage media, and address other use cases either select our Storage Cloud for the underlying data storage, or offer it as a choice to their customers.
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We believe these providers are drawn to our solutions due to our support of the breadth of their offerings, competitive pricing which helps MSPs with their own margin profile, and ease of use.
+Added: We have programs to support these partners, and our newly launched Powered By Backblaze program supports Technology Partners, MSPs, and others by enabling them to more easily integrate our cloud storage and offer it directly to their customers.
+Added: This expands both their opportunity and ours.
The markets addressed by our platform include Public Cloud Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) storage as well as Data-Protection-as-a-Service (DPaaS).
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Our code achieves this for billions of files under management by intelligently allocating storage locations in line with capacity and demand.
−Removed: Alongside these core processes, the software layer also manages load balancing, caching, data compression, deletion, billing, as well as numerous other essential functions for hundreds of thousands of customers.
+Added: Continued investment in developing data compaction, compression, and other software innovation further improves our ability to efficiently leverage hardware.
+Added: Alongside these core processes, our software layer also manages load balancing, caching, deletion,
+Added: billing, as well as numerous other essential functions for hundreds of thousands of customers.
Generally weekly code updates regularly enhance these functions.
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Our software splits each uploaded customer file into several data parts, adds multiple redundant parts, and stores these parts across discrete hard drives in different servers in a data center.
−Removed: As a result, even if a few of the parts are entirely lost or
−Removed: offline, we are able to reconstruct the customer data from the remaining parts for durability.
+Added: As a result, even if a few of the parts are entirely lost or offline, we are able to reconstruct the customer data from the remaining parts for durability.
Multiple vaults are grouped together to form one cluster, and one or more clusters are organized into a region.
Our globally distributed storage platform also offers customers multi-region geographic choice for their data—currently between East and West Coast regions in the United States and Europe—providing flexibility for different needs including geopolitical considerations, regulatory requirements, and performance optimization.
−Removed: This software manages our global physical infrastructure of more than 250,000 hard drives and one terabit per second (one million megabits per second) of network capacity across multiple data centers.
+Added: Our software manages our global physical infrastructure of more than 300,000 hard drives and one terabit per second (one million megabits per second) of network capacity across multiple data centers.
Our systems also manage the automation, monitoring, and security of this infrastructure.
−Removed: As our customers’ data grows, and our total revenue with it, we continuously and smoothly deploy additional infrastructure.
+Added: As our customers’ data grows, and our total revenue with it, we seek to continuously and smoothly deploy additional infrastructure and utilize finance leases to match the capital outlays with additional incoming revenue.
A significant amount of our employees are either software engineers that develop and improve the software that runs our Storage Cloud or Cloud Operations employees that specialize in network operations, site reliability engineering, technical operations, and supply chain, which operate our software and systems to deliver our infrastructure as a service and our cloud services.
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The wide range of options for accessing B2 Cloud Storage allows anyone to use it, including developers and partners who can integrate storage capabilities into their technology stack or build their own solutions on top of our platform.
−Removed: Customers also strategically tier backups of their core data systems to B2 Cloud Storage, including on-premises and virtual machine servers and other high-capacity storage devices.
−Removed: Customers leverage B2 Cloud Storage for a wide range of use cases, including public, hybrid and multi-cloud data storage;
+Added: Customers also strategically tier backups of their core data systems to our cloud, including on-premises and virtual machine servers and other high-capacity storage devices.
+Added: More recently, businesses are incorporating B2 Cloud Storage into artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) workflows ranging from storing large media libraries for later analysis and categorization to housing the large quantities of data that AI models generate.
+Added: Customers leverage B2 Cloud Storage for a wide range of other use cases as well, including public, hybrid and multi-cloud data storage;
application development and DevOps;
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backup, archive and tape replacement;
−Removed: repository for analytics, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning;
and Internet of Things (e.g., storing data for surveillance systems, autonomous vehicles, and smart devices) .
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Our customers consist of a wide range of organizations and businesses—particularly mid-market organizations—and consumers.
−Removed: As of December 31, 2022, we had over 500,000 customers in over 175 countries, including approximately 436,000 customers using our Computer Backup cloud services solution and approximately 87,000 customers using our B2 Cloud Storage solution (approximately 16,000 custo mers use both our B2 Cloud Storage and Computer Backup solutions).
−Removed: Our customers span a range of industries, including a broad range of businesses, MSPs, developers, media innovators, creative agencies, academic institutions, government agencies, research institutes, gaming companies, and individuals.
+Added: As of December 31, 2023, we had over 500,000 customers in over 175 countries, including approximately 432,000 customers using our Compu ter Backup cloud services solution and approximately 98,000 customers using our B2 Cloud Storage solution (approximately 17,000 custo mers use both our B2 Cloud Storage and Computer Backup solutions).
+Added: Our customers span a range of industries, including a broad range of businesses, MSPs, developers, media teams, AI innovators, creative agencies, academic institutions, government agencies, research institutes, gaming companies, and
Our customer base is highly diversified, with no single customer accounting for more than 1% of our total revenue in 2023 or 2022.
Sales and Marketing
−Removed: We believe we have an efficient go-to-market model that is built on a self-serve selling motion.
−Removed: Prospective customers find us through a number of channels including our website, partners, and brand advocates.
−Removed: We have fostered community engagement through the content shared on our blog.
+Added: We have a layered go-to-market model that includes our self-service motion and our sales driven motion that focuses on larger customers.
+Added: The sales driven motion includes our direct sales team that contracts directly with customers and our channel sales team that contracts directly with customers and our channel sales team that contracts sales through our channel partners.
+Added: More recently, we also added our Powered By Backblaze program that enables third party platform providers to purchase Backblaze to then sell it to their customers as a part of their product offering.
+Added: Prospective customers find us through a number of sources including our website, partners, and brand advocates.
+Added: We regularly optimize our website, and in 2023 we modernized our website to improve the user experience and increase traffic through search engine optimization to accelerate lead generation.
+Added: We have fostered community engagement through the content shared on our blog, which is read by millions of people.
In addition to generating customers, our content generation efforts have contributed to building a community of thousands of partners.
−Removed: Our technology and developer, channel, and MSP partners expand use cases and attract customers, thereby increasing the usage of our platform.
+Added: Our technology, channel, and MSP partners expand use cases and attract customers, thereby increasing the usage of our platform.
Our marketing efforts focus on establishing our brand, generating awareness, creating leads, and cultivating the Backblaze community.
The marketing team consists primarily of product marketing, corporate communications and publishing, social media, growth marketing, and website teams.
−Removed: We leverage both online and offline marketing channels such as blogs, events and trade shows, seminars and webinars, whitepapers, case studies, search engines, and email marketing.
−Removed: We complement our self-serve customer acquisition model with a growing inside sales team that is focused on a low-touch sales assisted model that supports our larger customers if the need arises.
−Removed: Among other things, our sales and marketing teams focus on inbound inquiries, outbound prospecting targeting specific use cases, and volume expansion of our self-serve customers.
−Removed: We have plans to increase our investment in our sales and marketing capabilities to capitalize on our large and global market opportunity.
−Removed: We have also stood up a Developer Evangelism team to support our focus on supporting developers and applications storage use cases, and scaled up our partnerships team to grow our technology and channel partnership opportunity.
+Added: We leverage both online and offline marketing channels such as blogs, events and trade shows, seminars and webinars, whitepapers, case studies, search engines, advertising and email marketing.
+Added: We complement our self-serve customer acquisition model with a growing sales team that is focused on larger customers.
+Added: Among other things, our sales and marketing teams focus on inbound inquiries, outbound prospecting targeting specific use cases, and growing the adoption of our offerings in existing customers.
+Added: We have invested, and expect to continue to invest, in our sales and marketing capabilities to capitalize on our large market opportunity.
+Added: We have also established a Developer Evangelism function to support our focus on supporting developers and applications storage use cases, and scaled up our partnerships team to grow our technology and channel partnership opportunity.
Research and Development
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We have an internal technology roadmap to introduce new features and functionality to our platform.
−Removed: Substantially all of our R&D organization, which makes up approximately one-third of our company, is focused on software development.
+Added: Those investments have continued to result in innovations to the platform such as shard stash which improves small file uploads up to 30% faster than competitors and product enhancements such as Powered By Backblaze which enables customers to sell B2 Cloud Storage on their platform.
+Added: Development of software based solutions such as Computer Backup Enterprise Control provides up-selling opportunities that help customers while improving our gross margin profile.
+Added: Substantially all of our engineering organization is focused on software development.
We generally have a continuous product release cycle and we typically release updates on a weekly basis.
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Our current primary competitors generally fall into the following categories:
−Removed: diversified public cloud vendors, such as Amazon.com, Inc.
+Added: traditional public cloud vendors, such as Amazon.com, Inc.
through Amazon Web Services, Alphabet Inc.
through Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Corporation through Azure;
−Removed: certain smaller cloud storage competitors;
+Added: certain smaller and private cloud storage competitors;
and legacy on-premises storage vendors such as Dell EMC.
−Removed: While we compete primarily based on offering services that are significantly easier to use and lower cost, but also through continued innovation;
−Removed: key platform features;
−Removed: availability, durability, scalability, and performance;
−Removed: brand awareness and reputation;
−Removed: transparency;
+Added: We compete primarily based on the ease of use of our product and lower pricing, along with our support for an open cloud ecosystem.
+Added: Our innovation increasingly plays a role in how we attract and win customers, including work on key platform features;
+Added: interoperability;
+Added: capabilities for configurability and APIs;
+Added: and, availability, durability, scalability, and performance.
+Added: We are also differentiated by brand awareness and reputation;
+Added: transparency of our pricing with customers;
customer support;
independence;
−Removed: interoperability;
−Removed: partner ecosystem;
−Removed: and capabilities for configurability and APIs, we believe we stand out by offering a substantially easier to use product and significantly lower pricing.
+Added: and our partner ecosystem.
Intellectual Property
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Employees and Human Capital
−Removed: We believe we have an aligned and engaged workforce with relatively limited employee turnover.
−Removed: As of December 31, 2022, we had 393 full-time employees, including a net of 123 new full-time employees hired during 2022.
+Added: W e believe we have an aligned and engaged workforce with relatively limited employee turnover.
+Added: As of December 31, 2023, we had 381 f ull-time employees.
A significant amount of our employees are based out of our San Mateo, California headquarters.
−Removed: However, since March 2020 and throughout all of 2021, e mployees generally worked remotely due to the COVI D pandemic.
−Removed: Our offices reopened during 2022 and most employees located in proximity to our headquarters office location utilize a hybrid approach which includes a mixture of working in the office and working remotely from home.
+Added: However, since March 2020 and throughout the COVID pandemic, employees generally worked remotely.
+Added: Our offices reopened in 2022 after the pandemic, and most employees located in proximity to our headquarters office location utilize a hybrid approach which includes a mixture of working in the office and working remotely from home.
Culture is very important at Backblaze and we recognize that employees are our greatest asset.
−Removed: We recognize and value the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion and have a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee that is comprised of a diverse group of employees and management.
+Added: We recognize and value the impor tance of diversity, equity and inclusion and have a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee that is comprised of a diverse group of employees and management.
The committee is committed to cultivating and nurturing an inclusive and diverse environment at Backblaze by providing unique opportunities that will bring forth and promote the variety of cultures, backgrounds and circumstances that make up the Backblaze team while surpassing basic tolerance with awareness, acceptance and action.
No employees are represented by a labor union with respect to his or her employment by us.
−Removed: We have not experienced any work stoppages, and we consider our relations with our employees to be good, as evidenced by our Glassdoor 4.8/5.0 rating, 95% CEO Approval, and 95% Recommend to a Friend ratings as of February 1, 2023.
+Added: We have not experienced any work stoppages, and we consider our relations with our employees to be good.
+Added: We also note strong survey ratings about our company, as evidenced by our Glassdoor 4.4/5.0 rating, 92% approval of our CEO, 88% “Recommend to a Friend” rating as of March 8, 2023, and inclusion on the “Great Place to Work” nationally recognized list.
Our principal executive offices are located in San Mateo, California.
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We were incorporated in Delaware in 2007 under the name Backblaze, Inc.
−Removed: We completed our initial public offering in November 2021 and our common stock is listed on The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC under the symbol “BLZE.” Our principal executive offices are located at 500 Ben Franklin Ct, San Mateo, CA 94401 and our telephone number is (650) 352-3738.
+Added: We completed our initial public offering in November 2021 and our common stock is listed on The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC under the symbol “BLZE.” Our principal executive offices are located at 201 Baldwin Ave., San Mateo, CA 94401 and our telephone number is (650) 352-3738.
Our website address is www.backblaze.com.
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Compared sentence by sentence after normalising whitespace, quotation marks, case and digits, so re-formatting and restated figures do not read as changed language. Wording changes appear as one removal and one addition. The current filing and the prior one are authoritative.