Tokyo, May 23, 2017: Authlete, developer of a widely-adopted OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect solution, has closed its seed round for JP¥140m (approximately US$1.2m) that included the participation of 500 Startups, a venture capital seed fund. Authlete plans to use the funding to accelerate its business development in and outside Japan.
Since its launch in September 2015, Authlete’s user base has grown rapidly and today the solution has been deployed by a variety of industry segments such as IoT, health care, e-commerce, logistics, government and financial services. The solution can be adopted quickly to properly implement OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect standards in a matter of days and not months allowing developers to deliver their API enabled services more quickly.
“The support from 500 Startups is a solid endorsement of the Authlete solution and strategy. The additional funding and guidance will allow the company to build on our early success, enhancing the product and expanding our business especially to the financial services sector.” said Taka Kawasaki, the Co-Founder and Representative Director of Authlete.
“Taka is one of the leading experts in the world on OAuth technology, and what he’s made with Authlete truly stands out. We see their potential to catalyze the API economy and help revolutionize a variety of different industries. We’re honored to be a part of that exciting journey.,” said James Riney of 500 Startups.
Authlete was recently awarded the Grand Prize at the Financial Innovation Business Conference 2017, held in Tokyo on March 3, 2017. The prize recognizes the company’s “impact on financial markets,” “quality of the management team,” “innovativeness of the business model,” “business growth potential” and “possibility of becoming a global service.”
APIs have now become a key must-have strategy component for enterprises. According to a report published by marketsandmarkets.com on March 2017, the global API management market size is estimated to grow from US$606.8m to US$2.665b by 2021, at a compound growth rate (CAGR) of 34.4%. Increasing demand for private and public API’s, growing popularity of Web APIs, and growing number of mobile devices are the major growth drivers of the market. Authlete’s solution addresses the issues surrounding securing APIs, which is one of the critical challenges the API Economy faces today.
About 500 Startups
500 Startups is a global venture capital seed fund with a network of startup programs headquartered in Silicon Valley with over $330M in committed capital across 4 main funds and 13 micro funds. The firm has invested in 1,800 technology startups all over the world since its inception in 2010. The 500 Startups investment team and mentor network has operational experience at companies such as PayPal, Google, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Yahoo, LinkedIn, Twitter and Apple.
About Authlete
The Authlete OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect solution enables organizations to build secure application services and APIs more easily and quickly. Relying on Authlete to provide critical security functions, developers can focus on building more powerful applications and delivering them to market more quickly. Leveraging Authlete’s dedicated solution, developers can save weeks or months implementing and maintaining authorization functions. Organizations can ensure that they accurately implement authorization standards, and they stay up-to-date as the standards evolve. The Authlete solution has been implemented by companies from all over the world, including financial institutions, health care providers, government and other companies running applications deployed to millions of users and generating a high volume of API calls. Authlete was co-founded by Taka Kawasaki in 2015. The Authlete solution is being developed and supported by an international team of experts, with a wealth of experience building and growing leading edge technology companies.