NEXT Adds Trio of Execs in Wake of $5.5M Capital Raise

NEXT Biometrics has announced three important changes to its executive team to aid its efforts “to accelerate growth in our key markets and reach profitability,” in the words of CEO Ulf Ritsvall.

Marcus Laurén, the company’s new Chief Product Officer, is a former employee of Fingerprint Cards, where he started as a Customer Project Manager in 2014 and departed as Director of Global Product Marketing in early 2019. He went on to spend a couple of years in product development roles with IKEA and, later, ZetaDisplay. NEXT Biometrics also noted that Laurén has worked as “an independent management consultant and sought-after advisor.”

Meanwhile, Joshua Chiu, the former President of Egis Technology China, is NEXT’s new SVP and Head of Sales for South-East Asia. Like the “Chief Product Officer” position, this is a newly created role for NEXT Biometrics.

Ritsvall, who was appointed CEO of NEXT Biometrics on October 1 after having served as the company’s SVP of Sales and Marketing, explained that his initial analysis as chief executive led him to conclude that “adding increased biometric knowledge and industry-specific experience is needed going forward,” adding, “With these appointments, we increase our internal competencies, and can also speed up the operational pace in accordance with what is needed on a highly competitive and rapidly moving market.”

Also to that end, NEXT Biometrics has promoted its Vice President and Country Manager for India, Digvijay Singh Kanwar, to the role of SVP and Head of Sales for India. Kanwar is another former Fingerprint Cards executive, and is playing a critical role at NEXT given the importance of the Indian market. Earlier this year, NEXT revealed that its most important partner in the country, Access Computech Pvt. Ltd. (ACPL), had obtained L1 certification from the Indian government’s Ministry of Home Affairs, clearing the way for it to provide security solutions featuring NEXT technology to clients in the country.

At the time Ritsvall called it “the moment we have been waiting for,” and “the starting point for making NEXT Biometrics sensor a substantial part of Indian Aadhaar eco-system.”

The new executives’ efforts, together with those of the rest of the NEXT Biometrics team, will likely be boosted by a recent private placement valued at $5.5 million. A securities filing about the placement explained that its proceeds are meant to “ensure a healthy balance sheet and meet working capital requirements due to substantial orders.”

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November 3, 2023 – by Alex Perala