Personalized user accounts are one of the main ways companies interact with their customers these days. Whether it’s adding items to their Amazon cart or scheduling an appointment with their healthcare provider, engaging with businesses online tends to be easier when these experiences are catered directly to individual’s needs. San Francisco-based Clerk works to ensure streamlined user experiences start before people even create an account.
Clerk helps software developers build tools for user sign-up, sign-in and profiles without worrying about back-end development. The company announced Wednesday a $6.2 million round of seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz to further its user management solution.
Clerk’s platform was purpose-built for developers who use React, an open-source library for front-end programming. Over the past few years, React has grown in adoption as many companies have made it their go-to place for building the visible elements of their platforms’ user interface, according to Colin Sidoti, Clerk’s co-founder and CEO. Clerk’s solution handles both the visible and invisible elements needed to quickly build user authentication features using the language that React developers know best.
Clerk centers on programming components rather than APIs. Components encompass both the back- and front-end architectures needed for app development, whereas APIs focus only on the back-end, according to Sidoti. He considers components to be the evolution of APIs.
“Ultimately, with what’s going on with React and with developer tools and this evolution from the API to components is that it’s the first time in a decade [where] it’s getting 10 times easier to build applications,” Sidoti told Built In. “APIs a decade ago were that first step change we had where suddenly developers didn’t need to build quite as much in-house. ... With [the] React rise right now, we’re going to see another step change in developer tools.”
Founded in 2019, Clerk has grown to serve startups such as database company Grafbase, retail platform Honeylove and rental solution Blueground. As each of its business clients builds out their own solutions with the help of Clerk’s tech, Clerk has recorded a 10 percent week-over-week increase in end-users since its platform launched in 2021, Sidoti said.
Clerk will use its new capital to fuel growth as it continues to serve these customers and others. Clerk supports both business-to-business and business-to-consumer companies but said it will focus on adding more tools for B2B customers. The new tools will help these companies meet requirements to onboard every member of an organization and allow members to invite others to use that company’s solution.
While it builds out this new product suite, Sidoti said Clerk’s topmost priority is to remain resilient to downtime and security incidents and support its customers as they grow.
