Backblaze Announces Inducement Grant Under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4)

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Backblaze, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLZE) today announced that on May 28, 2026, it granted an equity inducement award to Anuj Kumar, the Company’s Chief Revenue Officer, as a material inducement to Mr. Kumar’s employment with the Company.

Mr. Kumar brings over two decades of experience scaling cloud revenue organizations at enterprise infrastructure companies, notably driving NetApp's worldwide cloud business during a period of significant growth. He joins Backblaze as the company advances its go-to-market transformation, while AI adoption drives a new phase of infrastructure demand.

The inducement award consists of 316,630 restricted stock units (“RSUs”) and 105,540 performance-based stock units (“PSUs”) for Mr. Kumar.

The RSUs will vest as to 25% of the underlying shares after one year, with the balance vesting in equal quarterly installments over the remaining three years.

The PSUs will vest as to 33.33% of the underlying shares following the release of 2026 earnings, with the balance vesting in equal quarterly installments over the remaining two years. The Board of Directors has approved a performance-based philosophy that aligns with the main driver of our shareholder value creation, which is the acceleration of our B2 Cloud Storage revenue growth. The actual vested PSU amount will be adjusted for the performance of the B2 Revenue Growth in Q4 of 2026.

RSUs and PSUs are subject to Mr. Kumar’s continued employment with Backblaze through each applicable vesting date.

About Backblaze

Backblaze (NASDAQ: BLZE) gives businesses the freedom to innovate without limits by removing the barriers of lock-in, complexity, and cost. Our high-performance cloud object storage accelerates AI workflows, powers data-heavy applications, streamlines media management, and protects critical data. As an award-winning independent cloud, we provide unparalleled levels of interoperability that enable over 500,000 of our customers to reach and serve hundreds of millions of end users in 175 countries around the world. For more information, please go to www.backblaze.com.