Startup investments roll on with Redrock Biometrics Series A, crowdfunding for Zenus

Firms deploying biometrics continue to raise funds large and small for their ongoing expansion at home and abroad. U.S.-based Redrock Biometrics and Zenus take the crowdfunding approach while Australia’s Haventec raises $11 million and sets its sights on the U.S. market.

PalmID firm Redrock Biometrics aims for $5M Series A

Palm biometrics specialist Redrock Biometrics is seeking US$5 million in Series A funding via a SeedInvest campaign, at a $20 million pre-money valuation. The round has raised $181,222 so far and is expected to close at some point in Q1 2022.

The promotional material focuses on the splash Amazon has made by bringing palm biometrics for payments with the Amazon One system for in-store payments. While Amazon’s foray has proved controversial, with U.S. senators quizzing the company on how it protects user privacy, Redrock Biometrics is expecting other retail chains to want to compete with Amazon on convenience and look for alternative providers. Its PalmID offering can also be used for age verification and authenticating individuals for loyalty schemes.

In answer to a question on the SeedInvest page, Co-founder and CEO Hua Yang states that, “As far as we know, Amazon is the only other player that can deliver palm identification that is accurate and fast enough for payment. The next closest competitor is Fujitsu. However, Fujitsu’s payment solution requires a user to scan both the face and palm.”

Redrock has already partnered with NRI to integrate its PalmID product into the Sony Life Insurance app for its sales team. It also partnered with Trust Stamp to bring palm biometrics to a Mastercard project in sub-Saharan Africa. The Mastercard Inclusive Identity aims to capture the biometrics of 30 million people for the Mastercard Community Pass smart card scheme with Paycode.

Zenus crowdfunding round closes at $600k, 829 investors

Zenus, which describes its crowd analytics products as “ethical facial analysis,” has closed its crowdfunding campaign as planned and raised US$593,507. 829 investors took part, averaging at $716 each, driving the total up from $450,000 raised by August.

The fundraiser, via StartEngine, had a $1.07 million maximum offering for a $9.99 million valuation. It followed a previous funding round revealed in September 2020 to have raised nearly $1.2 million.

Company Co-founder and CEO Panos Moutafis took to LinkedIn to announce that the firm has so far raised $1.8 million and grew by more than 400 percent in 2021.

The Texas-based company’s products monitor spaces to gather data such as venue capacity, visitor gender ratios and evaluations of emotions via face biometrics to help retailers and venue operators improve their management or increase sales.

Biometric cybersecurity firm Haventec raises AU$11M, hires team in US

Sydney-based cybersecurity, biometric authentication and decentralized storage developer Haventec has raised AU$11 million (US$7.9 million) in capital and is launching an expansion into the U.S., reports Security Brief Australia.

The funding follows increased demand for the firm’s passwordless Authenticate product, which uses a four-digit PIN or biometric authentication to lead users through a multifactor authentication process.

Macquarie Group and Future Now Capital led the round which will fund Haventec’s expansion in financial services, government and health sectors. The firm hired a team in the U.S. in 2021.

David Maunsell, CEO of Haventec, commented that “The underlying issue is how inadequate current protection is for sensitive information. Haventec is pioneering a new way forward with a mix of cryptography, decentralisation, biometrics and multi-factor authentication.”

Co-founder Ric Richardson says, “I founded Haventec with the vision of my parents never having their data or identities stolen and having the easy user experience of only needing to remember a PIN to access their banking, online groceries, healthcare and more.”

Article Topics

biometrics  |  crowdfunding  |  face biometrics  |  funding  |  Haventec  |  identity verification  |  investment  |  multifactor authentication  |  palm biometrics  |  Redrock Biometrics  |  Zenus