Auth0 announced a Series F round of funding today. This is our sixth capital raise (seventh if you count our seed round) and I am filled with as much gratitude with this round as when we secured our first $50,000 from our first angel investor six years ago. The past few weeks have given me pause to reflect, not only on the appreciation I feel for our investors, but also on the sea of change I have witnessed in the first half of the year.
We are in a very unique moment in our world’s history, and 2020 has begun to experience change that may have taken decades to occur otherwise, socially, systemically, and technologically. But meaningful change is never easy, and history has shown that momentous steps like these oftentimes result in difficult transitions.
COVID-19 has forced companies and societies into transition, whether they were ready or not, making them reinvent themselves in ways they didn’t previously think were possible. Retail stores, for example, have had to envision a future where physical spaces may no longer exist, or might have a different role. They have to reconcile the fact that maybe their ‘new normal’ means interacting with customers via a screen online more often than across a cash register in-store. And while they have spent decades perfecting how to protect a store with security cameras, locks, and guards, they now need to secure the online world. And securing the digital world can be exponentially more complex.
Not only is change difficult, but it naturally induces fear. There is fear of the unknown, and these evolving times are forcing the transitions at a speed where not everyone is comfortable.
I am proud that Auth0 serves as a key enabler in these transitions. We not only help companies in every industry keep pace with inevitable change, but allay their concerns and serve as an innovative, adaptable, and trustworthy technology partner along the way. Transformational growing pains hit every industry and use case, whether it’s a consumer brand, a financial institution, a B2B software company, or any other market. The shift from old to new has many twists and turns, but the reality is that the old paradigm isn’t working anymore—whether it’s mandating that employees work in a physical office, or by using antiquated, legacy applications that don’t have the capability to keep up with today’s digital demands.
"Luck is “opportunity meeting preparedness” and we are ready."
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Security breaches are a daily occurrence, credential stuffing is rising exponentially, and identity management plays more of an important role than ever before. Every business wants to secure their digital applications, keep their customers safe, and offer a frictionless experience, but don’t know how to do it. Because of that, there is a massive digital shift that is happening.
We are excited to be a key part of this change, and this is where we see considerable opportunity. In a way, we feel fortunate that the world situation seems to have accelerated the need for our service: digital transformation and security. But luck is “opportunity meeting preparedness” and we are ready.
The capital from this round and the confidence that our investors have in us not only reinforce the immense business need we are solving, but also empower us to be bolder and take more risks. We will use these funds to fuel transformation in the world, explore new regions, new markets, and tap into industries that have now been unlocked by this sea of transformation. Our mission is to secure the world’s identities so innovators can innovate, and we are so proud to serve as the technology that enables teams to do that.
We are indebted to all of our investors for supporting this vision and providing us with the capital to make big bets. Salesforce Ventures making a bet on us is a huge reinforcement that what we’re doing matters. Salesforce has been a trailblazer in SaaS, and exuded confidence in the cloud as a business enabler when few others did. Being supported by a company that has been on the bleeding edge of new paradigms is a humbling endorsement.
But of course, great responsibility comes with what we do. We want to provide secure access for everyone. We work with thousands of customers worldwide, and our customers’ end users amount to tens of millions of people who indirectly rely on us to be wholly secure and reliable. This dependence is an enormous responsibility and honor that I feel every day.
There is a lot of uncertainty in the world right now. But I have so much hope that we are on a path towards a better future, and that after the tumult, we will emerge stronger than before. Hope is what this country is built upon, and as an immigrant who came to the U.S. from Argentina 16 years ago, hope was my driving force then and continues to be now.
I want to thank our investors for supporting Auth0, thank our customers and partners for trusting Auth0, and thank the entire Auth0 team for believing in what we do on a daily basis.
Here’s to the next exciting phase of our company’s growth and to Auth0 being a change agent for the future.