South Korea’s Hancom invests, gets Facephi biometrics APAC distribution deal

An investment agreement between Facephi and South Korea-based software company Hancom gives the latter exclusive licensing rights to Facephi’s biometric technology in the Asia-Pacific region, and allows it to make equity investments in the Spanish face, fingerprint, iris and voice biometric authentication provider.

The investment agreement was signed Monday by Hancom CEO Yeon-soo Kim and FacePhi CEO Javier Mira. Hancom becomes the second-largest shareholder in FacePhi, and plans to sell Facephi’s biometrics as white-labelled products under its own brand. This will give Hancom a footprint in the global AI market, according to the announcement.

Facephi biometrics will be integrated with Hancom’s security software HancomWITH, healthcare service CareLink, and its recently-acquired digital document management software brand Clipsoft.

Facephi is listed on both French and Spanish stock exchanges, and has already established a customer base of financial services companies in Korea.

Hancom CEO Kim says her company plans to expand its AI business and increase overseas sales through the deal.

“We will continue to lead the AI market by actively promoting collaboration with, investment in, and acquisition of competent AI businesses,” says Kim.

The global market for digital authentication solutions is growing at an annual rate of 12 percent, Hancom says. Hence the appeal of Facephi’s biometric authentication, liveness detection. The latter is one of just nine passive liveness detection technologies confirmed compliant with Level 2 PAD standards by iBeta testing, the companies note.

Article Topics

APAC  |  Asia  |  biometrics  |  distribution  |  face biometrics  |  FacePhi  |  Hancom  |  investment