It’s uncommon to see a solo founder constructing a broadly adopted developer infrastructure software. Much more so, if the founder occurs to be from Africa. Bereket Engida, a self-taught programmer from Ethiopia, is quietly constructing what some builders say is the very best authentication software they’ve ever used.
Engida’s startup, Better Auth, gives an open-source framework that guarantees to simplify how builders handle consumer authentication, and it’s caught the eye of some huge identify traders. It just lately raised about $5 million in seed funding from Peak XV (previously Sequoia India & Southeast Asia), Y Combinator, P1 Ventures, and Chapter One.
However probably the most attention-grabbing half right here isn’t who’s on the startup’s cap desk: Engida says he constructed all the product again residence in Ethiopia earlier than he set foot within the U.S.
Engida instructed TechCrunch that he began programming at 18 after a pal declined to assist him construct an e-commerce search app, and he began engaged on the venture himself. He went on to land some distant software program jobs and ultimately constructed an online analytics platform that lets builders monitor consumer habits on their web sites.
However all through his numerous jobs, Engida says he saved seeing a problem popping up in every single place: authentication. Each app must handle how customers signal out and in, reset passwords, and generally directors must deal with permissions and consumer roles. However he discovered present instruments have been both too restricted or inflexible — firms like Auth0, Firebase and NextAuth provide managed providers, however they retailer consumer knowledge externally, restrict customization, and are costly at scale.
“I keep in mind needing a company function. It’s a quite common use case for many SaaS purposes, but it surely wasn’t out there from these suppliers,” Engida instructed TechCrunch. “So I needed to construct it from scratch. It took me about two weeks, and I keep in mind considering, ‘That is loopy; there must be a greater technique to resolve this’.”
He then scrapped that venture and commenced engaged on a TypeScript-based authentication framework that might let builders entry consumer knowledge by way of open-source libraries, assist frequent permissions use instances — like groups and roles — out of the field, and scale with plug-ins.
“The concept was that you may add superior options in simply two or three traces of code,” Engida stated.
Why builders like it
Over six months working largely from his bed room in Ethiopia, Engida constructed the primary model of the library that might go on to turn out to be Higher Auth. When he posted it to GitHub in September 2024, builders shortly noticed the potential.
Since then, Higher Auth has clocked 150,000+ weekly downloads, 15,000+ GitHub stars, and a neighborhood of over 6,000 Discord members, the startup claims.
Higher Auth’s pitch is straightforward: Let builders implement all the things from easy authentication flows to enterprise-grade programs immediately on their databases and embed all of it on the back-end. Not like hosted providers, Higher Auth is an open-source library that builders can combine immediately into their codebase, retaining all consumer knowledge on premise, of their database. For firms cautious of handing over important consumer data to 3rd events, this function alone is a serious level.
The library has additionally discovered sudden traction amongst early-stage AI startups, which must construct customized authentication flows that combine with proprietary APIs, handle tokens securely, and be capable to scale with out racking up excessive prices.
“We first heard concerning the product from quite a few startups we’ve labored with,” stated Arnav Sahu, associate at Peak XV and former principal at Y Combinator. “Their auth product has seen phenomenal adoption among the many subsequent era of AI startups.”
Higher Auth marks Peak XV’s first direct funding in an African founder.
Engida says Higher Auth, at the moment free to make use of, will concentrate on bettering its core options and launch a paid enterprise infrastructure that plugs into its open-source base. This may give builders the flexibleness to self-host or go for Higher Auth’s cloud add-ons as wanted.
He’s additionally fascinated by tips on how to scale with out buying and selling away the product’s community-built really feel. On the roadmap, subsequently, is hiring a small workforce to assist preserve the codebase, increase documentation, and assist enterprise customers. For now, although, Engida remains to be writing a lot of the code himself.
Higher Auth, which simply graduated from YC’s latest Spring batch, is the third Ethiopian startup to move by way of the accelerator, following drone-based digital well being platform Avion, and meals supply platform BeU Supply.
“Constructing this feels vital not simply because individuals love the product, however due to what it represents,” stated Engida. “There aren’t many Ethiopian founders constructing international merchandise. For a lot of, it feels virtually inconceivable. So seeing that traction offers hope for different individuals to attempt to be extra bold.”