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Backblaze S-1 IPO

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Re: Backblaze S-1 IPO

#21

Post by handrous »

hfern wrote: post #11
encryptluks2 wrote: post #2

After Cloudflare's announcement this is likely a last act as people move away. Good luck if you invest but I can see them filing for bankruptcy in 2-5 years.

Backblaze makes 73% of their revenue from computer backups. I do not see how the Cloudflare announcement will eat into that. I would agree that B2 is their high growth area, but I do not think Cloudflare directly opposes B2.

Yeah, I think it's more about CF hemming them in, curtailing growth opportunities. Especially since the line until recently had been "use Cloudflare and get free transit between CF and Backblaze B2!" Haha, so much for that.

I don't think they're targeting Backblaze, but their position as the foremost middleman of the Internet means they're going to hurt direct competitors and partners pretty much any time they launch a product, until they're out of partners that host "cloud services". Which is a position Cloudflare put themselves in entirely on purpose.

Re: Backblaze S-1 IPO

#22

Post by NicoJuicy »

encryptluks2 wrote: post #2

After Cloudflare's announcement this is likely a last act as people move away. Good luck if you invest but I can see them filing for bankruptcy in 2-5 years.

To be honest, I'm a Cloudflare fan.

But I think the niche between them is totally different.

Re: Backblaze S-1 IPO

#23

Post by qeternity »

tiffanyh wrote: post #20

I love Backblaze. Kind of surprised they aren’t profitable. >” In the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020, our revenue was $40.7 million and $53.8 million, respectively, representing growth of 32%. We incurred net losses of $1.0 million and $6.6 million for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020, respectively”

This caught me by surprise as well because I am pretty sure they have stated before that they were profitable.

Re: Backblaze S-1 IPO

#24

Post by dreadlordbone »

encryptluks2 wrote: post #13
0des wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just curious, are you currently or have you been a Backblaze customer?

Yes, I was until I switched to restic and saved a bunch of money. I still get unlimited storage with G Suite. You can also get 6TB of annual storage with Office 365 family plan for $80 at Costco.

How can you save a bunch of money when Backblaze is dirt cheap?

Re: Backblaze S-1 IPO

#25

Post by bpodgursky »

tiffanyh wrote: post #20

I love Backblaze. Kind of surprised they aren’t profitable. >” In the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020, our revenue was $40.7 million and $53.8 million, respectively, representing growth of 32%. We incurred net losses of $1.0 million and $6.6 million for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020, respectively”

Pretty bold to IPO with those kind of revenue #s these days... I guess the iron is hot though.

Re: Backblaze S-1 IPO

#26

Post by slownews45 »

I tried to get onto their business backup product without success. Something about how they do their accounts, sales, software stuff just was not smooth?

I had to buy a separate product MSP360, and then even then configuring that to work with Backblaze wasn't easy (at all). I got stuck and gave up.

Hope they smooth out the kinks.

Re: Backblaze S-1 IPO

#27

Post by antisthenes »

I'm surprised how small Backblaze is.

Am I reading this right that they only had 53 million USD in Revenue in 2020?

That's a tiny fraction of, say, Dropbox's revenue. I would have expected them to be in the 30-50% range of Dropbox on size.

And with 164 employees to boot, that's only $323,000 revenue per employee. I wonder what the compensation is like there.

Re: Backblaze S-1 IPO

#28

Post by mkr-hn »

qeternity wrote: post #23
tiffanyh wrote: post #20

I love Backblaze. Kind of surprised they aren’t profitable. >” In the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020, our revenue was $40.7 million and $53.8 million, respectively, representing growth of 32%. We incurred net losses of $1.0 million and $6.6 million for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020, respectively”

This caught me by surprise as well because I am pretty sure they have stated before that they were profitable.

They apparently build 500+ of their pods at close to $9k each (as of the older version--can't find cost on the latest) every year in 2016. That could represent the cost of growth in free trials through 2020 with people getting their home offices set up. A few hundred thousand people added over 2020 not paying for 15 days, and possibly not paying at all if they cancel, would be expensive.

Re: Backblaze S-1 IPO

#29

Post by m0zg »

tiffanyh wrote: post #20

I love Backblaze. Kind of surprised they aren’t profitable. >” In the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020, our revenue was $40.7 million and $53.8 million, respectively, representing growth of 32%. We incurred net losses of $1.0 million and $6.6 million for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020, respectively”

Sounds to me like prices will pretty much inevitably go up after they're public, and I'll finally have the motivation to set up my own remote backup by exchanging hard drives with a friend of mine on the other end of the country.

Re: Backblaze S-1 IPO

#30

Post by qeternity »

mkr-hn wrote: post #28
qeternity wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This caught me by surprise as well because I am pretty sure they have stated before that they were profitable.

They apparently build 500+ of their pods at close to $9k each (as of the older version--can't find cost on the latest) every year in 2016. That could represent the cost of growth in free trials through 2020 with people getting their home offices set up. A few hundred thousand people added over 2020 not paying for 15 days, and possibly not paying at all if they cancel, would be expensive.

They were unprofitable in 2019 as well…

And the cost of the pods will be capitalized and depreciated so a large surge in buildings won’t necessarily lead to bad financials.

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