VisionLabs enters Vietnam as Russian biometrics developers seek new markets

Russian biometric company VisionLabs is entering the Vietnamese market, Russian news agency Tass reports. The company presented its technology at the international trade show, Vietnam Expo 2023, which opened last week in Hanoi.

In January, VisionLabs announced it had entered the enormous Indian market.

VisionLabs is not the only company eyeing Asia amid increasing restrictions on Russian companies following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. NtechLab announced in August it is considering Thailand for its Asia headquarters.

In February, VisionLabs was added to the U.S. Department of Commerce Entity List alongside 66 other Russian entities for acting contrary to U.S. national security or foreign policy interests. The reason for including VisionLabs on the Entity List is acquiring or attempting to acquire goods originating in America.

VisionLabs has used graphics processing units (GPUs) made by Santa Clara, California-based Nvidia, according to a report from Reuters citing Nvidia’s website. The company attracted attention after it was found that Moscow city’s facial recognition systems have been using algorithms provided by biometrics developers including VisionLabs, NtechLab, Tevian and Synesis to identify protestors and activists.

The company is headquartered in the Netherlands, and VisionLabs’s technology is used in more than 60 countries worldwide, according to its website.

In 2021, VisionLabs was acquired by Intema, an AI accelerator and venture fund launched by Russia’s largest mobile operator MTS, for 7 billion rubles (US$95 million). Its main solution LUNA computer vision platform was chosen by MTS for biometric authentication of its retail customers for customer service.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  computer vision  |  facial recognition  |  Russia  |  Vietnam  |  VisionLabs