Authentication and identity platform startup Userfront Inc. today announced that it has raised $5.3 million in new funding and that its offering is now generally available for software-as-a-service providers.

Founded in 2020, Userfront offers an auth and identity platform that is pitched as transforming digital businesses to serve free, freemium and enterprise customers in one place. The company specializes in efficiently migrating systems so enterprises can win new business while also delighting existing customers.

Userfront argues that while identity is the primary way that SaaS businesses monetize their products, many companies put authentication and authorization — both critical components of identity management systems — on the back burner early on, leading to bottlenecks, operation complexity and missed revenue down the road.

“Identity is the cornerstone of all online business, however, it’s easy to pick something basic at the beginning and then get behind,” said Chief Executive Tyler Warnock. “Companies operate like that for years, kicking the can down the road and missing out on millions of dollars in revenue.”

Userfront offers a pathway to new revenue by fast-tracking the ability to incrementally add new features, upgrading customers to higher account tiers and rescuing at-risk customer accounts that require customer enterprise auth and access control.

For companies that already have auth solutions in place but need to scale, Userfront offers migration tools and can mimic a company’s existing identity system to allow them to migrate and modernize how they serve their customers.

Userfront’s offering includes support for meeting compliance requirements such as Service Organization Control Type 2, the European Union General Data Protection Regulation and Data Residency. Using the company’s platform, businesses can serve larger and more sophisticated customers across all tiers in a single platform and also gain access to a central dashboard for managing, adding, upgrading and analyzing users and accounts.

Venture capital firm Heavybit LLC led the seed round.

Image: Userfront