SAN FRANCISCO, May 5, 2026, 13:03 PDT
- Backblaze stock surged Tuesday, as the cloud-storage firm lifted its outlook for 2026 revenue and adjusted EBITDA margins.
- B2 Cloud Storage — the company’s object-storage platform aimed at handling big files like AI training sets, video, and backups — posted 24% growth in the first quarter.
- The surge draws attention again to the niche cloud infrastructure firm, yet its main Computer Backup segment still lags and faces stiff rivals.
Backblaze Inc. jumped Tuesday, soaring $2.96 to $7.60 after the cloud-storage provider reported a solid first quarter and upped its full-year forecast. Shares saw heavy volume as investors responded to Backblaze’s push to reposition itself as an AI infrastructure supplier, moving away from its image as just a backup service.
Why does it matter? Investors want smaller public players that tap into AI data growth—beyond just chip giants or top cloud names. Backblaze posted a 12% revenue increase to $38.7 million for the quarter through March 31, with B2 Cloud Storage surging 24% to $22.4 million.
The company bumped its 2026 revenue outlook up to a range of $161.5 million to $163.5 million, compared with its previous guidance of $156.5 million to $158.5 million. Adjusted EBITDA margin is now seen at 23% to 25%; the prior range was 19% to 21%. Adjusted EBITDA strips out items like interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, and isn’t calculated under GAAP.
Backblaze topped both revenue and adjusted EBITDA forecasts, CEO Gleb Budman said, highlighting that “B2 growing 24% year over year.” He cited a pair of recent AI customer deals: one with an AI training-data firm, another with a generative video player. The two contracts combined brought in roughly $1.5 million in annual contract value. SEC
AI is shouldering a bigger load these days. Backblaze reported a 76% jump in its AI customer base, year over year. The group of clients generating over $50,000 in annual recurring revenue also climbed, up 51%. Annual recurring revenue hit $158.2 million, tallying income from established customer deals.
During the earnings call, Budman noted that AI customers are expanding “about three times faster than our average customer.” He pointed to strong demand both from companies developing AI infrastructure and from those integrating AI into their products and workflows. The Motley Fool
Marc Suidan, the company’s finance chief, linked the raised outlook to a combination of pricing moves and demand strength. Answering Oppenheimer’s Ittai Kidron, Suidan broke down the $5 million bump in the full-year revenue forecast: about half coming from tweaks to pricing and packaging, the other half from core business momentum.
It’s B2 propping up Backblaze’s growth story now. The latest quarterly numbers show B2 revenue climbing to $22.4 million, up from $18.0 million this time last year. Computer Backup didn’t keep pace—revenue slipped 2% to $16.2 million. Net revenue retention for Computer Backup also dipped, coming in at 95% versus 103% a year ago.
The company tweaked B2 pricing: as of May 1, Backblaze hiked pay-as-you-go storage rates and scrapped API transaction fees—the small charges for software-driven data moves or access. According to Backblaze, the revenue impact hinges on how customers actually use their storage, particularly those with heavier data loads.
Competition is fierce. Backblaze finds itself up against the heavy hitters—Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure—all armed with bigger budgets, a wider range of products, and much more extensive sales channels.
Other risks haven’t gone away. Backblaze posted a GAAP net loss of $6.1 million, an improvement from the $9.3 million loss reported a year prior. Quarterly performance remains unpredictable, the company said, with customer churn, data usage, equipment buying, and capacity planning all at play. Margins take a hit if capacity gets overbuilt; fall short, and service quality or revenue may slip.
The market’s leaning into what it sees as a more straightforward growth story. Backblaze is still tiny compared to the cloud heavyweights, though its most recent quarter delivered a clearer AI storage pitch for investors: B2 picked up speed, guidance moved up, and operating leverage trimmed losses even as spending chased higher demand.
