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株式会社 Authlete

500 Global '17Plug and Play Ventures

Silicon Valley, JP · Founded 2015 · 35 employees on LinkedIn · 4 known investors

Find your way into 株式会社 Authlete

507 people in our graph share verified history with the 株式会社 Authlete team — schools, employers, funds. One of them is your warm intro.

Costanza Cariniunlockedknows Ali Adnan · together at California State University, Long Beach
×2knows the team · via Plug and Play Ventures
×2knows the team · via California State University, Long Beach
×7knows the team · via University of California, Santa Cruz

Authlete provides API security solutions implementing open standards for enterprise customers. The company helps organizations safeguard their API security infrastructure.

Also known as Authlete · Authlete, Inc.

CybersecurityDeveloper ToolsEnterprise SoftwareFintechSaaS

Founders & leadership

株式会社 Authlete was founded in 2015 by Ali Adnan, Hideki Ikeda, Iku Mohamed, and Takahiko Kawasaki.

AAAli Adnan
Ali AdnaninCo-FounderAli Adnan leads Authlete, which provides API security solutions implementing open standards for enterprise customers. He brings over 25 years of experience in mobile applications, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, fintech, and SaaS businesses, with background in C-level and board positions.
HIHideki Ikeda
Hideki IkedainCo-founder & Software DeveloperHideki Ikeda is the founder of Authlete, which provides API security solutions implementing open standards. He brings 16+ years of software development experience and has worked on standards including OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, and FAPI.
IMIku Mohamed
Iku MohamedinCo-founder · Outside Director2021–2022
TK
Takahiko KawasakiinFounder

Investors · 4

500 GlobalSan Francisco · $150K
Coral CapitalTokyo · $1M – $184Mvia James Riney · inferred
NTT DOCOMO VenturesTokyo
Plug and Play VenturesreportedSunnyvale · $50K – $12M

Company profile

researched Aug 2026

Authlete provides web APIs that implement OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect (OIDC) protocol operations and token management, allowing organizations to build authorization servers and OpenID Providers without implementing the protocols themselves. Authorization requests are forwarded to Authlete, which performs the protocol processing, stores access tokens in its database and manages their end-to-end lifecycle. Client and service configuration is handled through a management console, and the company also publishes developer documentation, an API Explorer, release notes, GitHub libraries, and utilities such as a JWK generator and a JOSE generator.

The service is positioned as a headless engine that can be integrated into any architecture, programming language or framework, so customers keep control of their own authentication user interface and user experience and do not share user credentials with Authlete. It is described as an OpenID-certified solution supporting advanced security profiles and a broad range of specifications, including FAPI, CIBA and OID4VCI, with the company maintaining conformance as standards evolve. Deployment options include managed shared cloud, managed dedicated cloud, and a self-managed model.

Business model

Authlete sells access to its OAuth/OIDC backend APIs and management console, with published pricing and a free trial, and offers managed shared cloud, managed dedicated cloud, or self-managed deployment options.

Traction

The company cites use by large enterprises; Nubank is presented as a customer, stating that Authlete let it roll out a specification-compliant authorization server in a few weeks without modifying its existing environment.

Latest developments

The company's website carries a 2026 copyright notice and continues to market its OAuth/OIDC backend service, including support for newer specifications such as OID4VCI.

▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market

Market position

Supplier of standards-compliant OAuth/OIDC authorization infrastructure used as a component within customers' CIAM, API management and API gateway systems.

Offloads protocol implementation and token management to a backend service while leaving the authentication UI/UX and architecture under the customer's control, avoiding vendor-specific environment changes and credential sharing, with certified conformance to advanced OAuth/OIDC profiles.

Technology

Web APIs that perform OAuth 2.0/OIDC protocol processing and token lifecycle management, including database storage of access tokens; support for FAPI, CIBA and OID4VCI and other OAuth/OIDC/OpenID specifications; OpenID certification and conformance testing; language- and framework-agnostic integration; supporting developer tooling (API Explorer, documentation, GitHub libraries, JWK and JOSE generators).

Go-to-market

Self-serve entry through a free trial and sign-up alongside a sales-assisted motion ("Talk to an Expert"), supported by developer documentation, customer case studies and published pricing.

Enterprises building or modernizing authorization servers, including Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) platforms and API management or API gateway providers that must comply with current open standards.

Compiled by commissioned research from 1 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.

Competitors · 10

by search overlap
Auth0346 shared keywordsAuth0 is an authentication and authorization platform that secures applications, AI agents, and internal tools by providing identity management, single sign-on, multi-factor authentication, and fine-grained access control capabilities.
Netezza268 shared keywordsIBM is a global technology company whose business spans enterprise software (including Red Hat, HashiCorp, and Confluent), IT infrastructure such as mainframes, servers, and storage, and IT consulting services. The company is also investing heavily in quantum computing and AI-based enterprise offerings, including its Lightwell open-source software security clearinghouse and the Anderon quantum wafer foundry.
Okta247 shared keywordsOkta provides identity and access management products designed to protect the identities of workforce and customer users. The company serves enterprises and organizations that need to manage identity authentication and authorization across digital environments.
Frontegg223 shared keywordsFrontegg provides a low-code customer identity and access management (CIAM) platform that secures user login and authentication for SaaS applications. It also offers an agentic layer that lets SaaS products expose their functionality to users through generative AI platforms.
Secureauth201 shared keywordsSecureAuth provides a unified identity platform that handles authentication, authorization, and access enforcement for workforce, customer, partner, API, and AI agent use cases across the enterprise. The platform integrates adaptive MFA, passwordless authentication, behavioral AI, physical presence detection, and identity governance in a single system.
Ping Identity165 shared keywordsPing Identity provides identity management and access solutions designed to enable secure, scalable digital growth. The company serves enterprises seeking seamless identity infrastructure.
WorkOS150 shared keywordsWorkOS provides an API platform that enables SaaS companies to build enterprise-ready features including user management, single sign-on, directory sync, and admin portals. The platform helps developers quickly implement complex infrastructure requirements needed for adoption in large organizations.
Postman142 shared keywordsPostman is an API platform that helps developers build, test, and manage APIs throughout their lifecycle. It serves organizations across industries, including 98% of the Fortune 500, and provides tooling for API development, quality assurance, and organizational governance.
Login Radius130 shared keywordsLoginRadius provides a fully-managed customer identity and access management (CIAM) platform that handles authentication, social login, and identity management for enterprises, governments, and organizations. It serves B2B SaaS and large brands worldwide, managing billions of identities per month.
Descope121 shared keywordsDescope is a no/low-code customer identity and access management (CIAM) platform that lets developers build authentication and user journeys using a drag-and-drop visual editor, SDKs, or REST APIs. It supports passwordless login, MFA, SSO, SCIM provisioning, fine-grained authorization, and identity federation for consumer, business, and internal applications.

Companies competing with 株式会社 Authlete for the same Google search keywords, organic and paid, via search-intersection analysis.

▸Research sources · 1

primary sources listed

1 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.

Frequently asked questions

What does 株式会社 Authlete do?
Authlete offers a headless backend service that handles OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect protocol processing and token management.
Who founded 株式会社 Authlete?
株式会社 Authlete was founded by Ali Adnan, Hideki Ikeda, Iku Mohamed, Takahiko Kawasaki in 2015.
Who are 株式会社 Authlete's investors?
株式会社 Authlete's investors include 500 Global, Coral Capital, NTT DOCOMO Ventures, Plug and Play Ventures.
Where is 株式会社 Authlete headquartered?
株式会社 Authlete is headquartered in Silicon Valley, JP.