Ethiopian Dev’s Open Source Authentication Tool Better Auth Raises $5M from Peak XV, Y Combinator
June 25, 2025 – In a remarkable example of solo founder success, Bereket Engida, a self-taught software developer from Ethiopia, has raised $5 million in seed funding for his fast-rising open source project, Better Auth.
The authentication framework, built entirely from his bedroom in Ethiopia before he moved to the U.S., is now backed by Y Combinator, Peak XV (formerly Sequoia India & SEA), P1 Ventures, and Chapter One.
What is Better Auth
Better Auth is an open source authentication library designed to give developers full control over login flows, user permissions, teams, and organization features — with minimal code.
Unlike services such as Auth0, Firebase, or NextAuth, which often store user data externally and limit customization, Better Auth is fully self-hostable, open source, and customizable.
“You can add advanced auth features in just 2–3 lines of code,” Engida said.
Built in TypeScript, Better Auth integrates directly into a company’s backend and database, keeping user data secure and on-premises.
The Problem It Solves
Engida says Better Auth was born from his frustration with the limitations of popular auth services, especially around multi-tenant SaaS use cases like organization roles and team permissions.
“It was crazy how much time I spent reinventing features that should’ve been standard,” he said.
That led him to build Better Auth from scratch — with early traction showing just how widespread this need was.
Explosive Growth in Developer Adoption
Since launching on GitHub in September 2024, Better Auth has:
- Surpassed 150,000 weekly downloads
- Earned 15,000+ GitHub stars
- Grown a Discord community of over 6,000 active developers
It has proven especially popular with early-stage AI startups, many of which require secure, flexible, and scalable authentication for custom APIs and data-sensitive platforms.
Backing from Peak XV, YC, and Others
This marks Peak XV’s first direct investment in an African founder. Partner Arnav Sahu, a former YC principal, said:
“We first heard about Better Auth from multiple startups. Its adoption among next-gen AI companies has been phenomenal.”
The company graduated from YC’s Spring 2025 batch, following Ethiopian startups Avion (drones for health delivery) and BeU Delivery.
What’s Next for Better Auth?
Currently free and open source, Better Auth will soon roll out enterprise-grade features — including:
- Optional cloud add-ons
- Self-hosted enterprise plugins
- Improved team management
- Enhanced docs and support
Engida plans to hire a small core team to maintain the codebase and support enterprise use cases. But for now, he’s still writing the majority of the code himself.
“People love the product — but it’s also about what it represents,” he said. “This shows that someone from Ethiopia can build a globally adopted tool. That possibility matters.”
