M&A, Q3 Earnings, and India’s Modi: Identity News Digest

Welcome to FindBiometrics’ digest of identity industry news. Here’s what you need to know about the world of digital identity and biometrics today:

Synaptics Acquires Emza

Synaptics has acquired Emza Visual Sense Ltd., an Isreal-based company specializing in low-power computer vision technology for edge devices. Synaptics framed the acquisition in synergistic terms, explaining in a statement that Emza’s solution complements Synaptics’ Katana AI SoC platform, and that together they offer “human presence detection” applications in a range of devices including computers and smart TVs. Emza will become part of the Synaptics Israel business unit.

Liberian Senate Summons Elections Commissioner

Liberia’s Senate has voted to summon National Elections Commission chairperson Davidetta Browne-Lansanah to brief the body of lawmakers on plans to hold 2023 elections using a biometric voter registration system. Members of the legislature are concerned about the recent controversies swirling around the Commission’s attempts to award (and then deny, and then award again) an important contract to Ekemp, a China-based firm; and about the Public Procurement and Concession Commission’s refusal to green-light the contract.

India’s PM Promotes 5G, Facial Recognition

In a speech to state ministers, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasized the importance of using ‘smart technology’, including biometric tech, to fight crime. “With the help of 5G, the performance of facial recognition technology, automatic number plate recognition technology, drone and CCTV related technology, are going to improve manifolds,” he said. Modi emphasized the need for cooperation between states and the central government, and suggested that state ministers should not be deterred by budgetary constraints when considering the adoption of smart technologies for security.

Q3 Earnings

Aware, Inc. has issued its Q3 update, with revenues for the quarter down year-over-year, from $4.2 million in Q3 of last year to $3.0 million in the latest quarter. The company attributed the decrease to “macroeconomic headwinds and customer orders that were postponed to the fourth quarter of 2022.” Its net result, however, was positive, at $2.6 million, compared to a net loss of $1.6 million in Q3 of 2021.”We are focused on accelerating our expansion into the commercial SaaS market and bolstering recurring revenue through organic growth and a more focused enterprise sales team,” commented CEO Robert Eckel.

FacePhi has issued a corporate update for the third quarter, in which it disclosed that its revenues were up 89.4 percent, year-over-year. That amounted to €7.86 million. EBITDA, meanwhile, showed a 194 percent year-over-year increase, coming in at €532,061. Read our full story.

Product Launches and Upgrades

Mumbai’s Tata Consultancy Services has added a facial recognition capability to its TCS New York City Marathon App that will help marathon spectators to track their preferred runners throughout the race. Colorado-based Chronotrack, meanwhile, will provide runners with RFID chip-embedded bibs that will provide geolocation data to the app. The New York City Marathon is scheduled for November 6.

FusionAuth has added support for biometric login to its authentication platform for developers. The platform now allows developers to enable end users to leverage mobile authentication systems such as facial recognition and fingerprint recognition for passwordless login, via the WebAuthn standard. “Developers and SaaS providers already use FusionAuth to securely authenticate millions of their end users. We just gave them an easy option to use biometrics and eliminate stolen password risks,” explained FusionAuth founder and CTO Brian Pontarelli.

Instnt, a New York-based startup, has launched a SaaS customer onboarding solution, called Instnt Access, that is designed to perform a number of identity checks as soon as an end user signs up for a business’s product or service online. End users who are not flagged as fraud threats are assigned a PKI key-pair that is secured in Instnt’s identity wallet app, which in turn is secured behind a PIN and biometric authentication.

Accreditations and Regulatory Approvals

United Airlines has received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to let maintenance workers verify maintenance release documents using Apple’s Touch ID biometric authentication system. They can do so via the United Tech app, which United Airlines says has been used to deliver considerable reductions in tech operational delays and deferred maintenance items, according to a report from CIO Dive.

South Korea’s KT&C has obtained New Excellent Product (NEP) certification from the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, for an iris recognition system that is able to operate from up to a meter away from a subject. As Pulse reports, the NEP certification has been awarded to only a thousand products over the past two decades. KT&C expects the certification to boost sales, with a target of 10 billion won, or roughly $7 million, next year.

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October 28, 2022 – by Alex Perala