Securing ASX200 companies with an Australian customer research platform

Kinde was tapped in June 2023 by a leading Australian customer research platform to handle customer identity and access management for their 2,000 customers and 100,000 total users.

As a research platform on a custom-built legacy platform, the team admitted to not wanting the burden of authentication security to rest on their shoulders, opting instead to focus on their product with Kinde implemented to handle user management.

In addition to, “not being a security company,” the product team recognized the ongoing cost of maintenance and potential for teething problems with scale that may distract them from core value-adds.

The team first considered industry incumbent Auth0 based on previous experience with the platform. After numerous sales conversations, the team was informed that authentication at their scale would cost roughly $140,000 per year with Auth0.

Lacking confidence in the incumbents missing value-based pricing, the research platform turned to alternatives. Given our shared deep ties in the Australian startup ecosystem, their team reached out to Kinde.

After discussions, Kinde was able to offer a contract 80% lower than Auth0’s, coupled with migration support and transparency regarding long-term pricing as they continue to grow to their target of 5,000 customers by 2025.

On top of the clear cost savings, the team mentioned “it was nice to have another Australian startup” and, given the close proximity of the teams and Kinde’s early stage, a “direct line of communication.” Further emphasizing a primary “draw-card” being “how available [the Kinde team is]… I can ask a question and get an answer pretty quickly.”

The client’s customers include many of the ASX200, Australia’s biggest companies, spanning finance and banking, healthcare, and insurance. So, while the Kinde build itself took less than two weeks, the importance of their user data, complexity in legacy systems, and contract clauses regarding notification of third-party integrations meant that the user migration itself was spread over months.

The research platform team is excited about using soon to be released features like mobile authentication and billing. Kinde is excited to continue to secure such an incredible business.