BIO-key reports 80 percent growth in 2021 driven by IAM and cloud service

BIO-Key reports significant growth in fiscal 2021 propelled by the success of its PortalGuard digital identity and access management (IAM) platform and a cloud-hosted version, as well as fingerprint biometrics sales that raised revenue and gross profit.

The company announced its revenue increased from $2.8 million in financial year 2020 to $5.1 million in financial year 2021, an 80 percent jump. The leap is attributed to a notable rise in license fees for its PortalGuard IAM solution and demand for its fingerprint biometrics readers. The cloud-hosted PortalGuard IDaaS (ID as a service) aided in the revenue increase with its release in November 2020, which benefitted the fourth quarter numbers of the year.

Gross profit rose from $2 million in 2020 to $3.4 million in 2021 for BIO-key. Operating expenses rose to $8.4 million in 2021 compared to $7.2 million in 2020 because of R&D investments, engineering expenses, personnel spending to support new developments, and expenses related to PortalGuard.

BIO-key notes a small reduction in operating loss from $5.2 million in 2020 to $4.9 million in 2021 as revenue growth exceeded expense growth. The company’s total assets measured at $18 million in 2021 compared to $22.5 million in 2020, while it keeps $7.75 million cash on hand compared to $17 million in 2020.

The highlights of 2021 for BIO-key are listed as the continued growth of its IAM business, new biometric and identity solutions like MobilePOS and SSO Concierge, deployments for civil ID contracts in Africa, an enlarged sales and marketing reach with over 100 partners to its Channel Partner Program, and launching a Master Agent Referral Program with Intelisys, according to CEO Michael DePasquale.

DePasquale expressed optimism about BIO-key, noting President Joe Biden’s executive order to bolster cybersecurity of the federal government as an opportunity, alongside its acquisition of Swivel Secure Europe, and growth in Africa.

The CEO forecasts full-year 2022 revenue in the range of $10 million to 13 million, a potential growth figure exceeding 100 percent over 2021. DePasquale estimates BIO-key can break-even with this revenue, subject to hardware and higher-margin software revenue.

Article Topics

BIO-key  |  biometrics  |  cybersecurity  |  financial results  |  identity access management (IAM)  |  identity management  |  PortalGuard  |  stocks