Planet Nine
Planet Nine (now Freyja - Love and Magic) is a Portland-based, solo-founder open-source project building Sessionless, an authentication module using asymmetric cryptography without blockchain, aimed at a privacy-first cooperative digital economy for the general public and women software entrepreneurs.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2015
- HeadquartersPortland, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Planet Nine does
Planet Nine is a Portland, US-based private open-source software project (currently rebranded as Freyja - Love and Magic) building privacy-preserving identity and authentication infrastructure intended to underpin a future "planet-sized" cooperative economic system. Its core technical artifact is Sessionless, an authentication and identity module that performs asymmetric public/private-key cryptography to establish trust between machines without a blockchain and without requiring users to submit PII such as email or phone numbers. The broader Planet Nine concept proposes redirecting advertising revenue to users through a cooperative financial system, with supporting architecture described in an internal document called "The Stack." The project is hosted publicly on GitHub (organization: freyja-love-and-magic) under an MIT license.
The business is founder-led and operated by a single developer (Zach Babb, CEO), with disclosed headcount in the 1-10 range and no paying customers, no pricing model, and no commercial product surface. GTM is community-led and relies on open-source contributions and narrative / worldbuilding artifacts to attract developers and women entrepreneurs. A 2020 transaction lists Nippon Venture Capital at $0, suggesting no material dilutive capital has been raised. Following a 2024-2025 rebrand prompted by the astronomical Planet Nine entity, scope was widened to explicitly support women software entrepreneurs and address planetary sustainability and caregiving themes.
In its current state the project operates at pre-revenue scale with limited community traction: 46 commits on main, 17 stars, 1 watcher, and 1 fork on the canonical repository, no disclosed awards, partnerships, certifications, customers, or regulatory milestones. The strategic bet is that a privacy-first, PII-free identity primitive combined with a cooperative economic thesis will attract a developer community sufficient to eventually support a non-advertising-based digital economy, though no measurable progress toward that thesis is yet documented in the source material.
Planet Nine firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Planet Nine
- Website
- https://planetnine.app
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2015
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Planet Nine (now Freyja - Love and Magic) is a Portland-based, solo-founder open-source project building Sessionless, an authentication module using asymmetric cryptography without blockchain, aimed at a privacy-first cooperative digital economy for the general public and women software entrepreneurs.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Planet Nine industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Authentication and Digital Identity Software
- NAICS
- Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Authorization & Permissions (delegation, allowances, capability-based access, session keys) (FSAPACAJ)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Authentication (MFA/Passwordless/Biometrics) Platforms (BPAMAEAE), Identity, Credentials & Permissioning for Enterprises (DID/VC, access control, attestations) (FSAPAIAG)
Keywords
Where Planet Nine is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Portland
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Planet Nine business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations
Revenue model
- Platform/System Revenue: The project aims to create a planet-sized cooperative financial system that everyone can join, with the goal of disrupting advertising and redirecting advertising dollars to people. Revenue model not yet clearly defined or operational.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels1 record
Planet Nine product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Planet Nine is an open-source software project whose core deliverable is Sessionless, a lightweight authentication and identity library that uses the same asymmetric cryptography as Bitcoin and Ethereum but operates without a blockchain, enabling machine-to-machine trust and user sign-up without sharing personal information such as email or phone. The wider Planet Nine/Freyja concept frames this as the technical foundation for a planet-sized cooperative financial system designed to redirect advertising value to users.
Product overview
Planet Nine (now rebranded to Freyja) is an open-source software initiative centered on disrupting the advertising economy by creating a cooperative financial system. The core offering consists of the Planet Nine concept—a planet-sized cooperative financial system accessible to everyone—and Sessionless, an authentication technology that uses asymmetric cryptography without blockchain dependencies. The project is built around the premise of redirecting advertising revenue to users and enabling participation through digital resources, with supporting infrastructure documented in 'The Stack' (a technical architecture document).
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Sessionless An open-source authentication and identity library that uses asymmetric cryptography (public/private key pairs) in the same style as Bitcoin and Ethereum but operates without a blockchain, allowing developers to authenticate users and establish machine-to-machine trust without requiring PII such as email or phone numbers.
Companies that use Planet Nine
Customer profileSegments2 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Planet Nine technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature1 record
Planet Nine partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators2 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Planet Nine competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Okta: Enterprise identity and access management leader with broad coverage across workforce and customer identity. Comparable to Sessionless in the underlying identity-and-authentication category, though targeting a much larger enterprise footprint.
- Auth0: A leading authentication-as-a-service platform offering passwordless, MFA, and identity primitives to developers and enterprises. Directly comparable to Planet Nine/Sessionless in the authentication-and-identity layer it occupies, but with vastly more resources and product depth.
Emerging players
- Lit Protocol: Decentralized key management and access control using threshold cryptography for programmatic signing and authentication. Comparable to Sessionless in its use of asymmetric cryptography and session-key concepts for machine-to-machine trust.
- Dynamic: Embedded wallet and authentication platform using public-key cryptography for Web3 login flows. Comparable to Sessionless in its key-pair-based authentication model and developer-first integration approach.
Direct peers
- Keycloak: Open-source identity and access management project under the CNCF, offering SSO, identity brokering, and session management. Comparable to Sessionless as an open-source authentication alternative, with significantly more production adoption.
- Magic Labs: Provides passwordless and Web3 authentication using public-key cryptography and embedded wallets. Directly comparable to Sessionless in its use of asymmetric cryptography for user authentication without traditional credentials.
- Stytch: Authentication API focused on passwordless magic links, WebAuthn, and session management for B2B and B2C applications. Comparable to Sessionless in its emphasis on reducing friction and avoiding traditional passwords/email-first flows.
- Web3Auth: Offers key management and authentication infrastructure for Web3 applications, using public/private key pairs and MPC. Comparable to Sessionless's cryptographic, non-PII authentication approach, though Web3Auth is blockchain-adjacent.
- Ory: Open-source identity infrastructure (Kratos, Hydra, Keto) offering authentication, authorization, and session management via APIs. Comparable to Sessionless as an open-source, developer-first alternative to proprietary identity platforms.
- Clerk: Developer-first authentication and user-management platform offering drop-in sign-in, session management, and identity primitives for modern applications. Closely comparable to Sessionless's target use case of lightweight, PII-conscious authentication for app developers.
Market position
Strengths3 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights5 records
Customer concentration
Planet Nine social profiles
Digital presencePlanet Nine financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Planet Nine leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Planet Nine funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors1 record
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Planet Nine M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Planet Nine
What does Planet Nine do?
Planet Nine is an open-source software project whose core deliverable is Sessionless, a lightweight authentication and identity library that uses the same asymmetric cryptography as Bitcoin and Ethereum but operates without a blockchain, enabling machine-to-machine trust and user sign-up without sharing personal information such as email or phone. The wider Planet Nine/Freyja concept frames this as the technical foundation for a planet-sized cooperative financial system designed to redirect advertising value to users.
Is Planet Nine a public or private company?
Planet Nine is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Planet Nine founded?
Planet Nine was founded in 2015. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Planet Nine based?
Planet Nine is headquartered in Portland, United States, in the North America region.
How does Planet Nine make money?
One revenue line is on record: platform/System Revenue.
Who are Planet Nine's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Okta and Auth0. Emerging players are Lit Protocol and Dynamic. Direct peers are Keycloak, Magic Labs, Stytch, Web3Auth, Ory and Clerk.
Does Planet Nine have an API?
No public API is recorded for Planet Nine.
What industry is Planet Nine in?
Planet Nine's product category is Authentication and Digital Identity Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSAPACAJ, Authorization & Permissions (delegation, allowances, capability-based access, session keys), with a secondary code of BPAMAEAE, Authentication (MFA/Passwordless/Biometrics) Platforms. Its NAICS code is 54151 and its SIC code is 7372.