Zwipe cuts back on R&D and marketing in hopes of being profitable

Having scrounged all the affordable funding they could find and held their corporate breath as long as they could, executives at biometric authentication company Zwipe are shedding extremities.

They have issued a statement euphemistically announcing the “streamlining,” the executives say they expect cuts to quicken their “path toward profitability in the medium term.”

It has been a tough few quarters in the industry, with firms forced to accept increasingly costly financial life rings.

Starting this week, Zwipe‘s headcount will be 15 people lighter. Executives are also “lessening” research and development activities. External marketing has been lessened, too.

It is hard to predict the effect of the layoffs, but the other two steps are momentous. R&D is what propels a company as markets return and external marketing is what reminds buyers of a company’s presence today.

The company has formed up behind two new products – Pay and Access. If they don’t start generating copious revenue very soon, the decisions that are made likely will be significant indeed.

Pay is biometric software and hardware sandwiched in payment and other cards. Mastercard and Visa have certified Pay for use in their cards. Zwipe says it is market–ready.

Access is similar to Pay but focused on access management. It is approved by HID Global and Legic for integration into their access cards.

Article Topics

biometric payments  |  biometrics  |  fingerprint biometrics  |  Zwipe