来源：PINGWEST 英文站
记者：Rebbeca Ren

Although the Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted "normality" in a devastating way, digital transformation has been accelerated. Software as a service (SaaS) companies are benefiting from the trend. The stock prices of SaaS giants including Salesforce, Okta, and Twilio have almost doubled since the outbreak of the pandemic.

尽管新冠疫情以毁灭性的方式破坏了“常态”，却加速催化了数字化转型。软件即服务 ( SaaS ) 的公司正从这一趋势中受益，自疫情爆发以来，包括 Salesforce、Okta 和 Twilio 在内的 SaaS 巨头股价几乎翻了一番。
In China, the sector, fueled by capital, is also expanding rapidly. According to data released by startups database IT Juzi, in the first half of 2020, 280 financing events occurred in the SaaS industry, raising a total of 35.413 billion yuan ($5.47 billion).

中国 SaaS 行业在资本的推动下正迅速扩张，据 IT 桔子统计，2020年上半年 SaaS 行业发生融资事件 280  起，总融资金额达 354.13 亿元（ 54.7 亿美元）。

With the increase in the number of mobile devices and data access points in the cloud, cloud security is now the fastest-growing sector. As an important part of cloud security, identity as a service (IDaaS) is also riding on the high-speed train. Log-in–tech startup Authing has secured a $5 million exclusive investment from GGV capital in January. 

随着云上设备和数据访问点的数量不断增加，云安全现在是增长最快的领域。作为云安全的重要组成部分，身份即服务（IDaaS）也乘上了高速列车。一家做登录技术的初创公司 Authing 在今年 1 月份获得了纪源资本 500 万美元的投资。

In China, the sector, fueled by capital, is also expanding rapidly. According to data released by startups database IT Juzi, in the first half of 2020, 280 financing events occurred in the SaaS industry, raising a total of 35.413 billion yuan ($5.47 billion).

中国 SaaS 行业在资本的推动下正迅速扩张，据 IT 桔子统计，2020年上半年 SaaS 行业发生融资事件 280  起，总融资金额达 354.13 亿元（ 54.7 亿美元）。

With the increase in the number of mobile devices and data access points in the cloud, cloud security is now the fastest-growing sector. As an important part of cloud security, identity as a service (IDaaS) is also riding on the high-speed train. Log-in–tech startup Authing has secured a $5 million exclusive investment from GGV capital in January. 

随着云上设备和数据访问点的数量不断增加，云安全现在是增长最快的领域。作为云安全的重要组成部分，身份即服务（IDaaS）也乘上了高速列车。一家做登录技术的初创公司 Authing 在今年 1 月份获得了纪源资本 500 万美元的投资。

该公司由三位 95 后合伙人创立，为企业提供基于云的身份服务比如单点登录等，集成包括阿里云，腾讯云，百度云等应用。

In March, Auth0, the American peer of Authing, was acquired by Okta for $6.5 billion, consolidating the latter's position in the IDaaS field. Okta concentrates more on pre-built, pre-configured solutions
3月，Authing 的美国同行 Auth0 被 Okta 以 65 亿美元收购，巩固了其在 IDaaS 领域的地位。Okta 提供低代码方法，专注于预构建、预配置的解决方案。

The costly acquisition has brought IDaaS, which plays a central role in enterprise identity management by removing ID silos and enabling one account-access-all function, into the spotlight. According to Fortune Business Insights, the global identity and access management market is projected to reach $24.76 billion by the end of 2026, exhibiting a CAGR of 13.2% from 2018 to 2026.

高昂的收购使 IDaaS 成为人们关注的焦点，IDaaS 在企业身份管理中发挥核心作用，包括消除数据孤岛，实现一个帐户访问所有应用等功能。根据 Fortune Business Insights 分析，到 2026 年底，全球身份和访问管理市场预计将达到 247.6 亿美元，同比 2018 年增长率为 13.2%。

Authing identifies itself as an API (application programming interface)-first, developer-friendly solution for identity management. ( API allows easier embedding of content from any site or application) 

Authing 提供 API 化服务、开发者友好的身份管理解决方案。（ API 允许更轻松地嵌入来自任何站点或应用程序的内容） 

"I have coded for more than 10 years. I noticed that people need to re-develop login and registration modules every time they develop applications, which will slow down the development progress to a certain extent. So I decided to turn identity authentication services into API forms and provide them to others," Xie Yang, the CEO, told PingWest.

“我已写了 10 多年代码，深受身份模块的折磨，每做一个应用都需要重复开发登录注册、社交登录、权限控制等模块，我意识到身份会拖慢业务的迭代速度，所以我决定将身份模块抽离出来，作为独立的API 服务并提供给所有人。” Authing CEO 谢扬告诉 PingWest。

"Modularization of software development and microservices are the future. As a developer-friendly identity infrastructure, Authing will contribute to the prosperity of cloud computing in China," said the CEO.

“软件的模块化开发和微服务化是大势所趋，Authing 作为一个开发者友好的身份基础设施将为加速中国云计算的繁荣做出贡献。” Authing CEO 谢扬说。

Speaking of the investment in Authing, Wu Chenyao, executive director of GGV Capital, said they felt the trend of SaaS services going to API-ization and SDK (software development kit)-ization from its global investments.

谈及对 Authing 的投资，纪源资本执行董事吴陈尧表示，他们从全球投资中感受到了 SaaS 服务向 API 化和 SDK（软件开发工具包）化的趋势。

"In China, we clearly see the rapid development of enterprise digital transformation and IT infrastructure innovation, said the venture capitalist. "With just a few lines of code, non-core business function modules can be integrated into your own service, which enables you to focus on your core business.”

“在中国，我们清楚地看到了企业数字化转型和 IT 基础设施创新的快速发展，”风险投资人说，“只需几行代码，非核心业务功能模块就可以集成到你自己的服务中，让你更专注于自己的核心业务。”

SaaS reduces the enterprise's demand for IT talents while providing the latest technology applications to meet theirs requirements for digital management. Wang Huiwen, the co-founder of on-demand delivery giant Meituan, believed that the lack of well-capitalized mid-sized companies is the reason why enterprise-oriented SaaS has been developing relatively slowly in China. 

SaaS 降低了企业对 IT 人才的需求，同时提供最新的技术应用，满足企业对数字化管理的需求，美团的联合创始人王慧文认为，缺乏中型腰部企业是中国的 SaaS 发展相对缓慢的原因。

Traditionally, mid-sized firms are the landing point for SaaS companies in both the US and Europe, but in China, comparatively inexpensive labor and low willingness to pay for software hold back the expansion of SaaS. 

中型企业一直以来是美国和欧洲 SaaS 公司的着陆点，但在中国，相对便宜的劳动力和低软件支付意愿阻碍了 SaaS 的扩张。

Therefore, the current valuation of Authing is much lower than its western matches. In March, Vancouver-based startup Trulioo has raised $394 million at a $1.75 billion valuation for its identification technology service.

因此，Authing 目前的估值远低于其他西方公司。今年 3 月，总部位于温哥华的初创公司 Trulioo 以 17.5 亿美元的估值为其身份识别技术服务融到了 3.94 亿美元。

Now the informatization level of mid-sized enterprises remains fairly low in China, where Tencent's instant messaging app and e-mail service dominate the office.

中国中型企业的信息化水平仍然较低，中美差距还是相当明显的。在中国，腾讯的即时通讯应用和电子邮件服务在办公领域占据主导地位。

Besides Tencent, giants such as Alibaba, Baidu, and Bytedance are all cultivating and promoting their own cloud-based services, which also poses a threat to start-ups.

 
除了腾讯，阿里巴巴、百度、字节跳动等巨头都在培育和推广自己的云服务，这也对初创企业构成了威胁。

 
But Authing believes that neutrality is their advantage. "Tech barriers exist between the giants so they are unable to integrate with each other, but we can blend all of them into Authing," said the CEO.

但 Authing 认为中立是他们的优势，“巨头之间存在数据壁垒，它们无法相互整合，但我们可以将它们全部集成到 Authing 的应用中。”Authing CEO 谢扬说。

According to the company, it currently serves hundreds of corporate customers, mainly state-owned enterprises and financial institutions, and tens of millions of users and corporate employees are using its secure access function.

该公司目前服务于数百家企业客户，包括央国企公司和金融机构等，支撑数千万用户和企业员工的安全访问体验。

The Beijing-based company also provides services for French advertising firm JCDecaux and Italian bank UniCredit.

这家总部位于北京的公司还为法国广告公司德高 JCDecaux 和意大利银行 UniCredit 提供服务。

Xie told PingWest that the company started with only 2 people and is expected to grow into a team of 100 people by the end of this year. Among them, staff of product and R&D will account for 68%.

Authing CEO 谢扬告诉 PingWest，公司从 2 个人开始创业，预计到今年年底将成长为 100 人左右的团队，其中 68% 为产品和研发人员。

Cloud infrastructure spending in China increased from about $107 billion in 2019 to $142 billion in 2020, surging more than 32% in the last quarter of the year. Industry analysis provider Qianzhan forecasts that the size of the country's enterprise-oriented SaaS market will reach 74 billion yuan ($11.43 billion) in 2021, and will exceed 270 billion yuan ($41.71 billion) by 2026.

中国的云基础设施支出 从 2019 年的约 1070 亿美元增加到 2020 年的1420 亿美元，2020 年最后一个季度飙升超过 32%。据前瞻产业研究院预测， 到 2021 年中国 SaaS 市场规模将达到 740 亿元（114.3 亿美元），到 2026 年将超过 2700 亿元（417.1 亿美元）。

Some investors believe software is the future and finds it valuable to review trends underway in the US. “In the next 20 years China will follow the US in using software to improve enterprise efficiency,” said Patrick Zhong, founder of M31 Capital. “We’re not saying it will be the exact same path as the US, but it’s a reference point.”

一些投资者认为软件是未来，从美国正在经历的趋势来看很有价值。“未来 20 年，中国将和美国一样使用软件来提高企业效率，这并不是说它将与美国完全相同，但它是一个参考点。” M31 资本创始人仲雷表示。

New opportunities are triggering the development of the SaaS sector in the country—the demographic dividend is waning, Covid-19 has accelerated the adoption of cloud and remote work, and the government has been vigorously promoting cloud adoption. It is foreseeable that startups like Authing will keep coming out to enrich the entire ecosystem.

新的机遇正在引发中国 SaaS 行业的繁荣发展——在新冠疫情的催化加速下，不仅是企业甚至包括政府部门，都在大力扩展云服务以及远程办公模式。可以预见，像 Authing 这样的初创公司将不断涌现，丰富整个生态系统。