Investors are finding deals among biometric verification firms

A pair of corporate finance deals that a year ago would have barely broken the water’s surface are in the news.

The first one, involving ID verification and merchant-services vendor Advance Intelligence, is an $80 million investment.

The Singapore company says the round was led by Warburg Pincus and Northstar Group, both of whom already have stakes in Advance Intelligence, parent of selfie biometrics provider Advance.AI.

The money will go to development of AI that streamlines consumer transactions. Advance Intelligence has said it wants to apply algorithms to take some of the bias out of financial products and making those products more widely available.

Executives have said their company has facilitated a total of $4 billion in loans throughout Southeast Asia.

A year ago, the company closed a $400 million round, which was more the size of financing deals at that point.

Patrick Walujo, managing partner of Northstar, said Advance Intelligence’s “tremendous growth” was a primary motivator for participating.

Executives at another biometric cybersecurity firm, BioCatch, say Permira Growth Opportunities has taken “a significant minority stake from existing investors” in their company.

BioCatch says fund manager Permira now is the third largest shareholder, but refused to offer further details about the deal. Ctech pegs its latest investment at $40 million.

The incoming capital, according to BioCatch, will invest in the usual – expansion and product development – but also “potential M&A,” which is less typical at this point in the economic cycle.

Article Topics

Advance.AI  |  BioCatch  |  biometrics  |  digital identity  |  funding  |  identity verification  |  investment