Entrust Completes Acquisition of WorldReach

Entrust has acquired WorldReach in an effort to raise its profile in the travel sector. WorldReach is based in Ottawa, and is best known for providing streamlined travel and immigration services for various government organizations around the world.

The two companies did not disclose the terms of the acquisition, but indicated that all of WorldReach’s 30-plus employees would be staying on after the deal. That includes WorldReach Founder and CEO Gordon Wilson, who will continue to lead WorldReach as an Entrust entity while serving as Entrust’s new VP and Global Lead for Seamless Travel.

Both Entrust and WorldReach noted that there is a growing demand for digital and touchless screening technologies at international borders. WorldReach helps facilitate those transformations with Electronic Travel Authorizations and other border management solutions, including a remote onboarding platform that reads the information in an e-Passport chip and then combines that with biometric liveness detection to verify someone’s identity during the immigration process.

That platform has already been used by more than 5 million people, with the UK Home Office and Eurostar standing as some of the company’s most high-profile customers. Entrust believes that its extensive global network will help scale that number moving forward.

“WorldReach is a great fit for Entrust, with deep experience in identity verification and digital onboarding solutions implemented at scale for governments and global travel providers,” said Entrust CEO Todd Wilkinson. “With the acquisition, Entrust can help these organizations reshape government and travel service experiences around secure digital identities.”

“We see tremendous opportunity to leverage digital identity and encryption technology to make border crossing, immigration and other citizen services more secure,” added Wilson. “WorldReach customers will benefit from proven Entrust technology and expertise in digital travel credentials, PKI and certificate solutions and identity and access management.”

WorldReach is a FaceTec Partner, relying on the company’s 3D face biometrics technology for Canada’s “Chain of Trust” pilot. The acquisition reflects the same interest in digital security that prompted Entrust’s decision to rebrand from Entrust Datacard in September.

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April 20, 2021 – by Eric Weiss