Identity-as-a-Service platform Auth0 triples Sydney headcount

Identity-as-a-Service (IDaaS) platform provider Auth0 has tripled the number of Sydney-based staff, in response to rapid growth in the APAC region.

The start-up aims to make it easier for developers to provide enterprise-grade identity management for their business’ websites, mobile apps and IoT offerings.

It works in a similar way as Twilio does for messaging, with APIs for devs to build authentication into their apps. The platform offers services like multifactor authentication, single sign on, passwordless log in and breached passwords detection.

Having established regions in the US and Europe since its launch in 2013, Auth0 launched an Australia region in 2015 to allow for low latency log-ins in the region which met local compliance requirements.

Over the past year, the Washington-based company said it had seen a 125 per cent growth in local customer acquisitions, which include CarsGuide, Atlassian, AGL, Servcorp, The Iconic and Television New Zealand.

The headcount of the local team, which didn’t exist 12 months ago, currently stands at 15; made up of sales, developer evangelists, account managers and field marketers.

The expansion comes after the company – founded by former Microsoft patterns and practices group lead Eugenio Pace – in May secured US$55 million in Series D funding.

“Enterprises are choosingAuth0for its extensibility and ability to simultaneously address the identity needs for any audience that needs authentication. This demand is driving our remarkable growth across Australia and New Zealand, and we are continually adding to our team in Sydney,” Pace said.

The company says it authenticates and secures more than 1.5 billion log-ins every month.

An August report by Markets and Markets predicted the identity and access management market will grow from $16 billion in 2018 to $38 billion by 2023. The highest growth rateis expected in APAC.

Auth0’s most recent customer win in Australia is CarsGuide.

“As one of the largest online car marketplaces in the country, one of our primary goals is to make things simpler, safer, and more enjoyable for our customers during their car-purchasing process,” said Jeremy Gupta, CTO of CarsGuide.

“For us, that involves using best-of-breed platforms to facilitate this, enabling our internal teams to move with speed, and leaving security and user identity to the experts. We’ll soon have two large consumer brands in market with the introduction of Autotrader, andAuth0’s seamless and secure login process will help immensely with providing users a superior experience, no matter the channel,” he added.