Zwipe seeks $14m funding for Merkur Market move
Norwegian biometric technology company Zwipe plans to raise up to NOK 120 million ($13.7 million) and apply to trade on Oslo Bors’ multilateral trading facility (MTF) Merkur Market.
André Løvestam, CEO of Zwipe, says: “We are preparing for a commercial breakthrough for our biometric payment card solution in the second half of 2019 and accelerating growth in 2020 and beyond, both within biometric payment cards, wearables and other form factors and verticals.”
“We are preparing for a commercial breakthrough”
The firm offers power management technology, which enables battery-less, contactless (and contact based) biometric payments by means of fingerprint authentication
Partners include Gemalto and Chinese card manufacturer, Silone CardTech.
According to the firm, various biometric payment card pilots use its tech across Europe and the Middle East. These are being supported by such names as Visa, Mastercard and Gemalto (hello again), and comprise several banks, including Banca Intesa Sanpaolo.
Since its inception in 2009, Zwipe explains it has raised a total of NOK 241.3 million ($27.6 million) in equity, debt and grants.
Last month, it was awarded a NOK 23 million ($2.6 million) grant from the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme.
Zwipe is headquartered in Oslo with a 100% owned subsidiary in Colorado Springs, Colorado, US. The team consists of 32 people, of which 12 are situated in Europe and 20 in the US. It currently has 31 active patent applications with eight patents granted to date.
