Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Backblaze, Inc. (BLZE)

When you look at a cloud storage company like Backblaze, Inc. (BLZE), you need to see past the Q3 2025 revenue of $37.2 million and the projected full-year revenue of up to $146.0 million to understand the foundation driving that growth. Their mission-to make customers unstoppable by solving their toughest data storage challenges-isn't just marketing fluff; it's a direct response to the complexity and cost that holds back innovation, especially as their B2 Cloud Storage segment grew 28% year-over-year.

But does a mission built around being fair & good and a focus on easy actually translate into a sustainable business model, or is it just a feel-good story in a market where competitors like Amazon Web Services (AWS) dominate? We're going to defintely map out how their core values-like being 'Cleverly unconventional' and 'Sustainable business'-are the operational blueprints that allowed them to achieve an Adjusted EBITDA of $8.4 million in Q3 2025, and what that means for your investment thesis.

You have to ask: are these principles strong enough to keep their Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) of $147.2 million on its upward trajectory, and what near-term risks does their flat Computer Backup revenue pose to their long-term vision?

Backblaze, Inc. (BLZE) Overview

You're looking for a clear picture of Backblaze, Inc. and its place in the cloud storage market, especially now that its financial focus is sharpening. The direct takeaway is that while the legacy Computer Backup service is stable, the company's future growth is decisively driven by its B2 Cloud Storage platform, which is aggressively targeting the high-growth AI and data-intensive segments.

Backblaze, Inc. was founded in 2007 in San Mateo, California, with a simple, disruptive idea: make data backup easy and affordable. Their first product, Backblaze Computer Backup, launched in 2008, offered unlimited online backup for personal computers running macOS and Windows. This initial focus on simplicity for the individual user built a massive, loyal customer base.

The company expanded its offering significantly in 2015 with B2 Cloud Storage, an infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) product designed for developers and businesses. This is their object storage platform, a direct, cost-effective alternative to the hyperscale providers like Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service). Backblaze went public on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker BLZE in November 2021. For the full fiscal year 2025, the company expects total revenue to be between $145.4 million and $146.0 million, a defintely strong performance for an independent player.

• Founded: 2007 in San Mateo, California.
• Core Products: Backblaze Computer Backup and B2 Cloud Storage.
• 2025 Revenue Guidance: $145.4 million to $146.0 million.

Q3 2025 Financial Performance: B2 Cloud Storage Accelerates

When we look at the latest numbers, the story is clear: B2 Cloud Storage is the engine driving the business forward. For the third quarter ended September 30, 2025, Backblaze reported total revenue of $37.2 million, a solid 14% increase year-over-year (YoY). Here's the quick math on the product split:

The B2 Cloud Storage segment delivered $20.7 million in revenue, marking a robust 28% YoY growth. This is where the action is, fueled by new enterprise customers and existing users expanding their data footprints, especially those building AI and data-intensive workflows. In contrast, the foundational Computer Backup segment remained flat YoY, generating $16.5 million in the quarter.

The company is also showing significant progress on profitability metrics. Gross margin expanded by approximately 700 basis points (seven percentage points) YoY to 62% in Q3 2025, which is a great sign of operational leverage kicking in. Adjusted EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) hit $8.4 million, up from $3.7 million in Q3 2024, demonstrating improved efficiency as they scale. They're on track to be free-cash-flow positive in the fourth quarter, which is a critical milestone for any growth company.

The Independent Cloud Leader in the AI Era

Backblaze, Inc. is positioning itself as the leading independent cloud storage provider, a crucial alternative to the 'big three' hyperscalers. They've carved out a powerful niche by focusing on high-performance, predictable costs, and S3-compatibility (meaning their service works seamlessly with the industry-standard object storage API) without the vendor lock-in that often comes with larger providers.

Their success stems from a clear value proposition: they offer up to 3.2x savings compared to other cloud storage providers, particularly by offering free egress (the cost to download data) in many scenarios. This focus on cost-effectiveness is a huge draw for data-rich companies, especially those in the AI space where massive data sets need to be moved and processed frequently. They recently signed a new six-figure deal with an AI start-up focused on large-scale vision language models, which reinforces their role in the 'AI era.'

To understand the company's full strategic framework, including its mission and ownership structure, you should find out more below: Backblaze, Inc. (BLZE): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money

Backblaze, Inc. (BLZE) Mission Statement

As a seasoned financial analyst, I see a company's mission statement not as marketing fluff, but as the core strategic filter for every dollar spent and every product built. For Backblaze, Inc. (BLZE), their mission is simple yet powerful: to provide refreshingly easy cloud storage and data backup for everyone. This isn't just about storing data; it's about democratizing cloud services, which is a critical differentiator in a market dominated by complex, high-cost giants like Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure.

The mission statement guides their long-term goals, particularly their focus on the B2 Cloud Storage segment, which saw a robust 28% year-over-year revenue growth in Q3 2025, reaching $20.7 million. This growth confirms that their simplified, accessible approach is resonating with a market eager to break free from vendor lock-in and unpredictable egress (data retrieval) fees. Your investment decision should hinge on their ability to execute on these three core components of that mission.

1. Refreshingly Easy: Eliminating Complexity and Friction

The first core component, 'refreshingly easy,' is Backblaze's direct attack on industry complexity. For years, cloud storage has been a maze of tiered pricing, complex APIs (Application Programming Interfaces), and confusing setup processes. Backblaze's strategy is to 'think hard how to make things easy,' which is one of their stated core values, and they translate this into a clean, predictable pricing model and S3-compatible (Simple Storage Service) platform that just works.

This simplicity is defintely a key driver for their customer base, which spans over 500,000 customers across 175 countries. The focus on ease extends to their product innovation, such as the launch of B2 Cloud Storage Overdrive, a high-performance solution optimized for AI workloads, which still maintains their core value of simplicity. You can see this value in action when you compare their setup process to the multi-hour configurations often required by competitors. It's a clean one-liner: Simple products drive rapid adoption.

• Simplify the user interface to reduce onboarding time.
• Offer predictable, low-cost pricing to eliminate bill shock.
• Ensure high compatibility (S3-compatible) to minimize integration friction.

2. Cloud Storage and Data Backup: Commitment to Product Quality

The second component is the product itself: 'cloud storage and data backup.' This speaks directly to their commitment to reliability and high-performance. In the enterprise world, especially with the rise of AI and data-intensive workflows, performance is non-negotiable. Backblaze addresses this by engineering their own storage pod hardware and publishing transparent performance data, like their quarterly Drive Stats and Performance Stats Reports, which is a level of openness rare in the industry.

The financial results reflect this commitment to quality, too. In Q3 2025, the company achieved a gross customer retention rate of 91%, up from 90% in Q3 2024, showing that customers are sticking around because the service is dependable. Furthermore, their full-year 2025 revenue is expected to land between $145.4 million to $146.0 million, a testament to the stability and growth of their recurring revenue model. Here's the quick math: a high retention rate on a growing revenue base means their underlying product quality is sound.

For more insights into the capital behind this growth, you should explore: Exploring Backblaze, Inc. (BLZE) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

3. For Everyone: Fair & Good, Sustainable Business

The final component, 'for everyone,' is a nod to their 'Fair & good' and 'Sustainable business' core values. This isn't just about serving individuals and large enterprises; it's about providing an equitable, cost-effective service that removes the barrier of cost. They explicitly aim to remove the barriers of lock-in, complexity, and cost, which is a direct challenge to the high egress fees charged by hyperscalers (major cloud providers).

Their financial discipline supports this 'for everyone' philosophy. The company expects a full-year 2025 Adjusted EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) margin in the range of 18%-20%, which they recently raised. This focus on profitability and 'rationally frugal' investment ensures the business is sustainable for the long term, allowing them to keep their pricing low and fair for all customers. What this estimate hides is the operational efficiency required to offer a low-cost service while maintaining a healthy margin; it shows they are not just undercutting on price, but operating a fundamentally more efficient infrastructure.

• Charge fairly to maintain affordability for all customer tiers.
• Build for long-term success, prioritizing a sustainable business model.
• Be open and honest with customers, which builds essential trust.

Backblaze, Inc. (BLZE) Vision Statement

The vision of Backblaze, Inc. is to be the world's most trusted cloud storage platform. This isn't just a feel-good phrase; it's a clear, actionable mandate that maps directly to their product strategy and recent financial performance, especially as the data landscape shifts toward AI-driven workloads. Trust, in this context, means delivering on price, performance, and accessibility across a global footprint.

You can see this vision in the numbers: Backblaze now serves over 500,000 customers across 175 countries, which is a defintely solid global reach. Their Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) hit $147.2 million in Q3 2025, an increase of 13% year-over-year. That growth is fueled by the B2 Cloud Storage product, which is the core of their platform vision, and it saw an even stronger 26% growth in its own ARR, reaching $81.8 million. This tells you the market is validating their platform-first approach.

The company's mission is equally direct: to make customers unstoppable by solving their toughest data storage challenges. This is where the rubber meets the road, removing the barriers of lock-in, complexity, and cost that plague the hyperscalers (Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, etc.).

The World's Most Trusted Cloud Storage Platform: Performance and Scale

Trust in cloud storage is built on two things: performance and scale. Backblaze is leaning into the scale of the data they manage-over 5 exabytes, or five quintillion bytes, of data under management. That's a massive store of information.

Performance is where the vision gets validated by the new AI economy. For example, in Q2 2025, their number of AI customers grew by 70%, and the data stored by those customers grew an astounding 40 times year-over-year. Here's the quick math: AI workloads are the most data-hungry industry we've seen, so winning these customers, who need high-speed, predictable access, reinforces the 'trusted platform' claim. This focus on the high-performance B2 product is working, with its Net Revenue Retention Rate (NRR) at 110% in Q3 2025, meaning existing B2 customers are spending more with them year-over-year.

• Scale: Over 5 exabytes of data under management.
• Growth: B2 Cloud Storage revenue grew 28% to $20.7 million in Q3 2025.
• Retention: B2 NRR of 110% shows strong customer expansion.

For a deeper dive into how they built this foundation, you can check out Backblaze, Inc. (BLZE): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money.

Core Value: Fair & Good and Sustainable Business

A core value of 'Fair & good' is a rare sight, but Backblaze backs it up with a 'Sustainable business' philosophy. They are rationally frugal, which means they engineer for efficiency and pass the savings on. This is why they can claim their pricing is about one-fifth the cost of other major clouds.

This frugality is translating to their bottom line, which is a massive opportunity for investors. In Q3 2025, Backblaze's gross margin expanded to 62% from 55% in the prior year, a jump of about 700 basis points. Plus, their Adjusted EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) was a positive $8.4 million, or 23% of revenue, which is a significant improvement from 12% a year ago. That's a clear signal that the 'sustainable business' model is moving toward profitability.

The company is on track to be free-cash-flow positive in Q4 2025. Their full-year 2025 revenue guidance is between $145.4 million and $146.0 million. Honestly, shrinking the net loss from $12.8 million in Q3 2024 to just $3.8 million in Q3 2025 shows they are executing on their sustainable business value.

Core Value: Focus on Easy and Cleverly Unconventional

The 'Focus on easy' core value is what made their Computer Backup product famous, and it's now driving their B2 Cloud Storage. They take extra time to achieve simplicity, minimizing friction for the user. This is key because complexity is a hidden cost (or 'egress fee') in the cloud world.

Their 'Cleverly unconventional' value means they refuse to accept the status quo, which is why they offer S3-compatible, price-predictable storage without vendor lock-in. They are also innovating with products like B2 Overdrive, which provides higher data access speed for AI and high-performance computing (HPC) workloads. They signed their first six-figure B2 Overdrive customer just two months after its launch, which is a fast win for a new product. That's a great example of being unconventional to solve a customer's pain point-like getting killed by egress fees-with a simple, better solution.

Backblaze, Inc. (BLZE) Core Values

You're looking for the bedrock of a company's strategy-the core values that map directly to financial performance and market positioning. For Backblaze, Inc. (BLZE), the cloud storage innovator, their five core values aren't just posters on a wall; they are the engineering and pricing decisions that drove Q3 2025 revenue to $37.2 million. This model is about simplifying complex financial topics, so let's cut straight to how their principles translate into real-world value and near-term opportunities.

The company's mission is simple: to provide refreshingly easy cloud storage and data backup for everyone. This focus has positioned them as the leading independent cloud storage provider shaping the AI-driven future, serving over 500,000 customers in 175 countries.

Fair & good.

This value is the foundation of their competitive advantage (a moat, if you will) against the hyperscalers (Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure). It means charging fairly and being honest about pricing. You don't get hit with unpredictable costs like punitive egress fees (the cost to download your own data).

The proof is in the numbers: an independent analysis in May 2025 concluded that Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage is up to 3.2x more cost-effective than alternative cloud storage providers. This is a defintely compelling value proposition, especially for data-intensive AI workloads.

• Charge fairly: Offers free data egress up to 3x the average monthly storage amount.
• Build good product: B2 Cloud Storage net revenue retention rate (NRR) was 112% in Q2 2025.

Sustainable business.

A sustainable business is one that prioritizes long-term, profitable growth over short-term vanity metrics. It means being rationally frugal and investing responsibly. Backblaze is laser-focused on this, evidenced by their push toward profitability.

Their Q3 2025 results show this discipline, with the gross margin expanding to 62%, an increase of approximately 700 basis points year-over-year. The company is on track to be free-cash-flow positive in Q4 2025, which is a major milestone for a growth-stage tech company. To enhance financial flexibility, they also secured a new $20 million credit facility in Q2 2025. The quick math here shows a clear path to self-funding growth, reducing reliance on equity markets.

Focus on easy.

The goal is to eliminate complexity, which for a cloud storage platform means making the product simple to use for everyone from a single developer to a large enterprise. This is where engineering time is spent to minimize customer friction.

The Q2 and Q3 2025 product updates reflect this, even as they move upmarket. They launched a suite of enterprise cyber security features that focus on ease of management, not adding complexity. This includes AI-powered 'Anomaly Alerts' to detect suspicious activity and an Enterprise Web Console with role-based access control (RBAC). The simplicity of their S3-compatible platform also enables customers to use their data in open cloud workflows, avoiding vendor lock-in.

Open communication.

This value is about transparency, which builds trust and establishes leadership in a market often criticized for opaque pricing and hidden infrastructure details. Backblaze defaults to sharing, even when the news isn't perfect.

The prime example is their long-running, public Drive Stats reports. In 2025, they continued this tradition, publishing Q3 2025 data in November. This report provided a detailed analysis of the 328,348 active data drives under management, including the overall annualized failure rate (AFR) of 1.55% in Q3 2025. This level of public data sharing is unheard of among their competitors, giving investors and customers a granular look at the operational rigor underpinning their service. For more insights on who is investing in this transparent model, read Exploring Backblaze, Inc. (BLZE) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

Cleverly unconventional.

This means refusing to accept the status quo and finding novel solutions, often challenging conventional wisdom. The company's original use of consumer-grade hard drives was the first unconventional move; their 2025 AI strategy is the latest.

The launch of B2 Overdrive in 2025 is the clearest example. This high-throughput cloud object storage solution is specifically engineered for AI/ML training and high-performance computing (HPC) workloads. It's unconventional because it delivers terabit-speed throughput at a fraction of traditional hyperscaler pricing. The market quickly validated this approach: Backblaze signed its first six-figure B2 Overdrive customer in early Q3 2025, just two months after product launch. This product is directly responsible for accelerating B2 Cloud Storage revenue growth, which hit $20.7 million in Q3 2025, a 28% year-over-year jump.