Auth0

When I logged into TMF today I was required to download the Auth0 app on my phone and set up my identity for future use. It sure looked like what I have imagined what OKTA does. I found the whole AuthO process very clunky and difficult to use, hopefully it is a one time inconvenience and it allows me to stay logged in longer.

Even though AuthO is currently a privately held company, I have been loosely following it for a few awhile. Why? Because I became aware that they had hired an executive that I am acquainted with. This acquaintance has a history of being a home run hitter in the private-to-public space at several previous stops. I’ve not had any interaction with this acquaintance since s/he took this job so I have zero inside information. I will say that s/he has a robust history of being on teams that have taken companies public, very successfully.

The company is located in Seattle, which is a fantastic startup city. At least Gates and Bezos among others thought so. Here is their website:

https://auth0.com/

Here is their media self description:

Auth0 is the first identity management platform for application builders, and the only identity solution needed for custom-built applications. With a mission to secure the world’s identities so innovators can innovate, Auth0 provides the simplicity, extensibility, and expertise to scale and protect identities in any application, for any audience. Auth0 secures more than 100 million logins each day, giving enterprises the confidence to deliver trusted and elegant digital experiences to their customers around the world.

The BOD has nine members, ex-founders, that include investors from:

Trinity Ventures
Bessemer Venture Partners
Sapphire Ventures (2x)
Meritech Ventures
K9 Ventures

And they just announced that the CFO of Smartsheets has joined the board.

https://auth0.com/blog/auth0-board-of-directors-welcomes-sma…

As CFO of Smartsheet, a modern SaaS work execution platform, Ceran leads the Finance, Procurement, IT, Facilities/Real Estate, and Operational Excellence efforts, and was instrumental in Smartsheet’s successful IPO in April 2018.

The they have “9K+ Enterprise Customers” over “70+ Countries” (partial list):

  • The Motley Fool
  • Atlassian
  • The Economist
  • AMD
  • Sharp
  • Siemens
  • 1-800-Flowers
  • Autotrader

Here is a press release re: Atlassian.

https://auth0.com/blog/atlassian-authenticates-millions-of-u…

They partner with:

DataDog

https://auth0.com/blog/auth0-partners-with-datadog-to-delive…

Cognizant

https://auth0.com/blog/auth0-expands-global-partner-network-…

Valuation:

Yep, they are a Unicorn.

https://auth0.com/blog/auth0-closes-most-impactful-year-yet/…

There is absolutely no doubt that AuthO is going public. It is a matter of when, not if. I thought about bringing it to the board for a “futures” look and with TMF bringing it to everyone’s attention I felt today was as good of a day as any.

Lee

11 Likes

Thank you…good to know. Good chance a company like that gets acquired, either before/after IPO, to compete against Okta and Microsoft in Identity space.

Perhaps a separate “Unicorn - future IPO” thread would be useful to capture this and others as they progress thru. Current environment likely keeps many from bothering with IPO at moment, but two other companies I like based on growth (no idea on valuations until actual Day 1 of trading) are:

Snowflake - growing 174% y/y as of Feb.
https://techcrunch.com/2020/02/09/after-479m-round-on-12-4b-…

SentinelOne - they believe EDR will be a 2-horse race between them and Crowdstrike eventually. Built for cloud/AI, they have similar feel as CRWD but supposedly growing faster at this stage of devl than CRWD was:
https://www.ameinfo.com/industry/technology/sentinel-one-int…

Wasabi - “AWS killer” may be bought before an IPO:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2019/02/28/7-time-fo…

Dreamer

9 Likes

I’m watching Snowflake very closely - still hoping that they IPO this year. Numbers are great, they have a great leadership team and their technology seems to be an industry leader per Gartner; That said, possible $12B valuation does give me a little sticker shock.