Clerk Raises $30m Series B from CRV and Stripe to Expand into Authorization

Clerk, the developer tools company known for its React-friendly authentication solution, raised $30 million in Series B financing led by CRV, with participation from Stripe, and existing investors Andreessen Horowitz and Madrona. The capital will be used to expand its service beyond authentication, which identifies who a user is, and into authorization, which determines the permissions a user has.

The investment from Stripe marks the beginning of a strategic partnership between the two companies. As the industry-leading billing solution, Stripe Billing helps developers create and manage user subscriptions. Since permission to access certain features typically depends on the user's subscription plan, Clerk requires a tight integration with Stripe Billing to create a robust authorization solution.

"The <SignIn/> and <UserProfile/> components from Clerk have already set a new standard in authentication, and proven that components are the new APIs," said Reid Christian, General Partner at CRV. "We're thrilled to support Clerk as they apply their solutions to the authorization market."

"Our customers have been asking us to integrate with Stripe since the week we launched," added Colin Sidoti, CEO of Clerk. "Billing information is notoriously challenging to sync with authorization engines, so it's natural that developers have been asking us to provide a solution."

Since announcing its Series A financing last January, Clerk has grown from 1 million to over 16 million managed users, and now facilitates more than one sign-up per second. The company has amassed over 1,300 paying customers across several verticals, including SaaS, AI, fintech, and e-commerce.

Clerk's Series B financing will be instrumental in accelerating its product development, growing its team, and furthering its mission to ensure every developer can easily implement safe and user-friendly security.

In addition to the Stripe Billing integration, Clerk will exhibit at the upcoming Stripe Sessions conference in April, and has published a Stripe Atlas Guide, Optimizing your customer sign-up and sign-in experience.