Aware revenues jump as biometric transaction volume hits 18M in six months

Dramatic growth in the volume of biometric transactions completed by existing customers, and subscription revenues from them drove Aware’s revenue for the second quarter of 2021 to $4.3 million, more than double the $1.9 million the company earned in the same period a year ago.

The company recorded 18 million transactions in the first half of 2021, up from 11 million in full-year 2020 and five times higher than the first half.

Aware booked a net loss of $1.5 million, or $0.07 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $3.1 million or $0.15 per diluted share a year earlier. Adjusted EBITDA loss was $0.9 million, significantly better than the loss of $3.3 million in Q2 2020. Quarterly transactions with the company’s digital identity software and biometric technology rose from 11 million a year ago to 18 million.

For the first half of the year, Aware’s revenue was $8.7 million, compared to $5.4 million in the first half of 2020.

Operational highlights in the quarter include the completed integration of the AFIX line of biometric software, acquired by Aware last year. This provided a new revenue stream and cemented the company’s position as a leading provider of software and biometric middleware, according to the announcement.

“In the second quarter of 2021 we validated our approach to generating sustainable revenue growth by successfully integrating the AFIX product line and leveraging its existing customer base to secure new accounts that we expect to drive our topline when they become operational,” comments Aware Chief Executive Officer Bob Eckel. “We’ve more than doubled last year’s quarterly performance in terms of revenue, net loss and adjusted EBITDA and have taken meaningful steps to align our organization with our ongoing transformation, which we believe will enable us to continue making key internal investments while maintaining a robust balance sheet.

Other highlights in the past quarter include new biometrics partnerships with Iris ID and Imprivata, with the latter marking a step into the potentially lucrative healthcare market.

“With a sizeable pipeline and strategic inorganic opportunities that we are actively evaluating on the horizon, Aware is in its strongest position yet,” Eckel adds. “As we continue to recognize transaction contract minimums and grow our recurring subscription-based revenues, we are simultaneously making significant progress on rolling out additional new core business offerings by year end. We expect these offerings to accelerate our entry into Biometric SaaS and open additional channels, enabling us to market a wide array of applications to end users of all sizes and capabilities.”

DHS adds Ping Identity tools to Approved Products List

The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has added two Identity and Access Management (IAM) solutions from Ping Identity to its Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) Approved Products List (APL) to help federal agencies enhance their cybersecurity protections and implement Zero Trust architecture.

CDM-approved products are vetted by DHS through a qualification process to give agencies confidence the effectiveness of their digital security tools.

PingFederate and PingAccess will support secure interoperability and centralized access to federal resources, according to the company announcement, and allow agencies to accept digital identity credentials issued by various internal systems or external ones managed by other agencies, federal contractors, or mission partners.

“Solutions found on the APL are highly reliable procurement options for federal agencies because they have already been vetted and confirmed to align with CDM’s technical requirements,” says Andre Durand, CEO and founder of Ping Identity. “By joining the APL, Ping Identity makes it even easier for agencies to modernize, especially now that ICAM is defined as ‘critical software’ by NIST following the May 12 Executive Order.”

The adoption of Ping’s digital identity credentials can help break down identity siloes and enable agencies to deploy their PKI (public key infrastructure) credentials more widely.

Liquid Avatar updates website and share warrant program

Kabn subsidiary Liquid Avatar has updated its corporate website to support its listing to the OTCQB exchange in the U.S., its business to business (B2B) software-as-a-service (SaaS) initiatives, and its overall digital identity marketplace strategies.

The company intends its SaaS program, based on the Liquid Avatar Verifiable Credentials Ecosystem (LAVCE), to support a wide range of apps and easily integrate with existing platforms used by developers and organizations in the travel, education, entertainment and hospitality, government and business sectors.

“We have been very encouraged by the interest in our B2B, SaaS programs that support our client’s programs, both as Apps and as internal platforms to ensure that they can verify and validate their users,” said David Lucatch, CEO.  “Our mission is to empower users to manage and control their digital identity and by supporting all facets of the industry to implement verifiable credentials program, we can make this process more streamlined and efficient and help both individuals and organizations potentially become more safe and secure in their use of identity, access and qualification data and credentials.”

The Liquid Avatar Mobile app, which combines biometrics and blockchain, has been downloaded 200,000 times. The company is also planning the rollout of its Kabn Visa Card, and more than 600 vendors signed up for its Kabn KASH program.

The program launched in June by Liquid Avatar to encourage early exercise of its 34.2 million outstanding common share purchase warrants has been approved by the Canadian Securities Exchange, meanwhile. The exercise price is $0.02 per share, with expiry dates ranging from November 10, 2021 to December 23, 2022.

Article Topics

Aware  |  biometrics  |  digital identity  |  Kabn Systems  |  Liquid Avatar  |  Ping Identity  |  stocks