March 2023 Summaries

Clerk, a company specializing in authentication and user management for React, has secured a $15 million Series A funding round led by Madrona, with notable participation from industry figures like Vercel's CEO Guillermo Rauch and former Auth0 CRO Dave Wilner. The funding arrives on the heels of Clerk's rapid growth, characterized by a 500% increase in monthly active users over five months, driven largely by word-of-mouth and referrals. Clerk's co-founder and CEO, Colin Sidoti, emphasized the strategic advantage of having Karan Mehandru, who brings extensive experience from his time on Auth0's board, join Clerk's board. Clerk plans to expand its offerings beyond authentication to include authorization features, incorporating user roles, permissions, billing, and entitlements, thereby addressing a critical need in the evolving architecture of application development. As the company aims to be a pivotal player in the future of componentized modules for developers, it continues to actively recruit for product and engineering positions.