BIO-key looks to raise $21M in common stock offering, grows IAM business

BIO-key has announced the pricing of an underwritten public offering of 33,230,000 shares of its common stock. The biometrics and IAM provider expects to raise gross proceeds of $21.6 million.

Each share of common stock or pre-funded warrant is being sold together with one common warrant to purchase one share of common stock at a combined price to the public of $0.65 per share and common warrant. The common warrants will be immediately exercisable at a price of $0.65 per share of common stock and will be valid for five years. The shares of common stock and the accompanying common warrants can only be purchased together in the offering but will be issued separately. The offering is expected to close July 23, 2020. The sole book-running manager is Maxim Group.

The underwriter has a 45-day option to buy an additional 4,984,500 shares of common stock and/or common warrants.

Higher ed institutions choose BIO-key’s IAM to prevent cyberattacks

BIO-key is scaling its IAM business across North America and internationally by providing PortalGuard cyberthreat prevention to higher education institutions Santa Rosa Junior College, University of Guam and Wesley Theological Seminary, the company announced.

Santa Rosa Junior College (SRJC) has installed Single Sign-On (SSO) and two-factor authentication to secure application environment for 21,000 end users. Canvas, G Suite, Escape Online, a custom Student Information System (SIS) application, Microsoft Office 365, and nineteen Shibboleth applications can now be securely used thanks to PortalGuard. Due to its flexibility, the institution can use both a mobile authenticator and YubiKey hardware tokens to secure access for web applications and Virtual Private Networks (VPNs).

To reduce help desk calls concerning password resets and login prompts, the IT team at the University of Guam adopted PortalGuard in March 2020. Since then it was improved end-user access through self-service features and SSO implementation for a number of applications.

At Wesley Theological Seminary, the IAM platform has enabled single password access for multiple IT systems and strengthened security by adding SSO. PortalGuard has been running since March 2020 and improving access to critical applications for more than 600 end-users. In this case, SSO was activated for Microsoft Office 365, Ellucian Colleague & WebAdvisor, Blackboard, and Blackbaud. The platform secured the self-service password reset process and delivered 24×7 self-service capabilities by lowering the number of support calls.

“Addressing new cybersecurity challenges while improving the end-user access experience is a top priority for most higher education institutions in 2020,” said in a prepared statement Mark Cochran, President, PortalGuard. “Online learning and work from home, including blended and hybrid scenarios have presented both new security challenges and opportunities to drive digital transformation initiatives forward. PortalGuard’s enterprise solution is uniquely positioned to provide flexible security solutions for higher education that offers significant IAM improvements and lasting value.”

PortalGuard has also been chosen by North Orange County Community College District (NOCCCD) in California to improve security and ensure a frictionless access experience.

Article Topics

access management  |  BIO-key  |  biometrics  |  cybersecurity  |  identity management  |  PortalGuard  |  stocks