Biometrics startups, scaleups navigate expanding digital trust applications

Biometrics adoption is driving revenues and growth in applications from security to civil ID, and may soon be the foundation of trust for any digital interaction, with reusable digital identity networks coming online. The top stories this week on Biometric Update illustrate each of these trends, along with the complexity of scaling companies and funding projects on the cutting edge of technology. RazorPay, NexG, deverium and Proof all have new reasons to be optimistic about their position in growing markets.

Scaling security and trust

Facial recognition on Ring cameras, the analytics and AI tools offered through GovCloud and an August agreement with the GSA all bring Amazon further into the U.S. law enforcement surveillance ecosystem. Many startups in America’s surveillance sector have been introduced to law enforcement customers by AWS, offering everything from data fusion to biometrics.

Payment authentication with on-device biometrics, PIN resets with Aadhaar face biometrics and cash withdrawals from micro ATMs have been added to the UPI by India’s Ministry of Finance in the wake of regulatory changes from the RBI. RazorPay sees an opportunity for its biometrics-ready Access Control Server, which uses tokenization and passkey standards to enable payment authentication.

Datasonic has won a six-year, $173 million contract to modernize Malaysia’s national ID card infrastructure. The NexG subsidiary will design a new MyKad ID with forgery-resistant security features to enable biometric verification for banking and a wide range of other services.

Software developer deverium’s alongID platform is graduating from piloting to early validation, as it pursues the sizeable market opportunity for digital identity orchestration. The company launched at MWC earlier this year, and works with GBG, iProov, Regula and Aware, to make IDs reusable for different services in different jurisdictions while protecting user privacy.

Proof is also building a reusable digital identity network, but in its case using its new Certify solution to leverage the combination of biometrics and cryptographic signatures it pioneered for notarization. CEO Pat Kinsel and VP of Product Darren Louie demo the new solution for Biometric Update and explained how it dramatically expands the company’s addressable market.

Questions and wrong answers

How businesses of various sizes that have invested in certification for the UK’s trust framework will fit with the national digital ID remains a source of anxiety. They are urging the government to consider how the DIATF and approaches like ZKPs can achieve its goals without the introduction of a new and unpopular national ID.

A data breach from a Discord partner shows the emerging opportunity for any technology provider that can effectively handle user data to perform age verification without putting that data at risk. There are many better options than manual age verification with over-retention of PII and weak data security.

A Spanish news site missed the mark in reporting on the breach, blaming Yoti, which Discord is not a client of, as the responsible third party. The breach also does not involve k-ID, which does the bulk of Discord age checks, but rather a third party that is not certified by the Age Check Certification Scheme, according to an ACCS statement. The AVPA is recommending its members reach out to clients about how they handle appeals.

Towards public-private ecosystems

The European Commission’s updated rollout plan for EU Digital Identity Wallets and trust infrastructure includes hundreds of millions of euros in procurements and grants and millions more for mDLs. The funding is part of the Digital Europe (DIGITAL) Work Programme 2025-2027, which addresses a wide range of digital priorities.

The funding model for the EUDI Wallet is not entirely finalized, and Jon Ølnes of Signicat argued at ENISA’s 11th Trust Services and eID Forum that it needs a business model. The revised eIDAS regulation suggests private sector involvement, but the protocols to support the necessary transactions are not in place, at least yet.

The first rollout phase of Europe’s EES biometric border control system begins on Sunday. Some countries are skipping ahead in the process, however, including Estonia, Luxembourg and Czechia. Lines may be longer at those borders at first, but in other countries the implementation process could drag into April of 2026.

OpenID is launching a program for accredited laboratories to perform conformance tests against its digital ID standards. The tests, launching in Q2 2026, are intended to compliment its self-certification service and allow OpenID to fit into a wider conformance program.

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Article Topics

biometrics  |  digital ID  |  digital identity  |  digital trust  |  week in review