In a landmark moment for African tech innovation, Better Auth, an open-source authentication tool built by Ethiopian solo founder Bereket Engida, has secured $5 million in seed funding to accelerate its product roadmap and scale its infrastructure offerings. The round was led by Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia Capital India & Southeast Asia), with participation from Y Combinator, P1 Ventures, and Chapter One—a powerful blend of global venture capital and Africa-focused funds.
This funding follows Better Auth’s graduation from the Y Combinator Spring 2025 batch, making it only the third Ethiopian startup to be accepted into the prestigious accelerator. The investment signals growing confidence in Africa’s emerging deep tech talent and the global relevance of developer tools built on the continent.
A Vision for Developer-Centric Authentication
Better Auth is on a mission to simplify and democratize authentication for developers worldwide. With this new capital, the startup plans to:
- Strengthen its open-source foundation, ensuring the core library remains robust, secure, and community-driven.
- Enhance developer documentation to support adoption and ease of integration.
- Launch a paid enterprise-grade infrastructure layer, offering companies the flexibility to self-host or integrate with cloud-based add-ons for advanced use cases.
While the tool is currently free and open-source, this hybrid model will allow Better Auth to monetize sustainably without compromising its community-first ethos.
Traction That Speaks Volumes
Since its debut on GitHub in September 2024, Better Auth has seen explosive growth:
- 150,000+ weekly downloads
- 15,000+ GitHub stars
- 6,000+ developers in its Discord community
These numbers reflect more than just curiosity—they signal real-world adoption, particularly among AI startups and early-stage B2B platforms that require flexible, secure, and cost-effective authentication solutions.
Why Investors Are Betting Big
Investors were drawn not only to Better Auth’s technical promise but also to its strategic positioning in a market ripe for disruption. Existing solutions like Auth0, Firebase, and NextAuth are often seen as overly complex, expensive, or inflexible. Better Auth flips the script by giving developers full control over their authentication stack—on-premise, customizable, and deeply integrated with their own databases.
For Peak XV, the investment represents a chance to back a foundational layer in the developer toolchain—akin to early bets on GitHub or Vercel. As partner Arnav Sahu noted, several startups in their portfolio were already using Better Auth organically, a grassroots signal that prompted deeper engagement.
For Y Combinator, the startup checks all the right boxes: a solo founder with deep domain expertise, strong organic traction, and a high-potential open-source base with clear monetization pathways. Engida’s ability to build and scale a complex infrastructure product solo was a key factor in their decision.
The Founder Behind the Code
Bereket Engida, a self-taught developer from Ethiopia, began coding at 18 after a friend declined to help him build a simple e-commerce search app. That rejection sparked a journey of self-learning, freelancing, and eventually, the creation of Better Auth. Frustrated by the limitations of existing auth tools—especially around role-based permissions and organizational structures—Engida built his own solution from scratch using TypeScript, guided by an open-source philosophy.
The result is a lightweight, developer-friendly library that handles everything from sign-ins and password resets to role assignments and token management—all while keeping user data in-house, a critical feature in today’s privacy-conscious world.
A Rare Story in African Tech
Better Auth’s rise is exceptional not just for its technical merit, but for its origin story. It is rare to see a solo African founder, especially from a country like Ethiopia, secure major venture backing in the infrastructure software space. Most African startups tend to focus on fintech or logistics, often with co-founding teams and commercial models. Engida’s success challenges that narrative, proving that deep tech innovation can emerge from anywhere.
With headquarters now split between Ethiopia and the U.S., Better Auth is positioning itself as a global infrastructure player—rooted in open-source values, powered by African talent, and built for developers everywhere.
