m-Commerce company, ClassifEye, secures funding from Nobska Ventures for biometric authentication using camera phones
Jerusalem, Israel – ClassifEye Ltd. has secured a $1.2M equity investment from Nobska Ventures, a Baltimore, MD based venture capital firm. Classifeye’s software-only technology enables fingerprint authentication and identification using existing camera phones, for handset security, authentication and non-repudiation of financial transactions, and other identity management applications.
Mobile carriers and service providers wish to increase revenue by enabling m-commerce applications and financial services for handsets. However, security is a major issue. The market is currently moving to two-factor authentication and FFIEC guidelines will require multiple (i.e., at least two) factors of authentication for certain electronic banking transactions in the US by the end of this year. Along with a low security PIN or token, dedicated biometric sensors provide much better security but also add significant fixed costs per phone, and long planning cycles. Including integration, typical costs for hardware based solutions are $20 or more per device in large volumes and require 9-18 month planning cycles, according to carriers and handset manufacturers. By contrast, ClassifEye uses existing hardware, the already embedded imager/camera, and software which can be downloaded to any camera phone operating on all major operating systems.
Charlie Moore, Managing Director of Nobska, said, “We believe that ClassifEye can dramatically accelerate expansion of mobile commerce applications in the US and abroad. Our discussions with major carriers and equipment manufacturers confirm that many will strongly prefer Classifeye’s unique technology over more costly, dedicated sensors. They like the low cost, flexibility of pricing, the backward compatibility and the ease of use of ClassifEye’s software-only solution. ClassifEye’s solution eliminates the need for biometric authentication hardware, thereby eliminating an existing bottleneck in deployment of biometric enabled handsets and the roll-out of enabled services.”
Moreover, no prior solutions adequately address non-repudiation for remote transactions. According to Nobska Director, Ari Tuchman, “ClassifEye has developed a unique means to ensure that the authentication is in real time and not a stored image or hacked authorization, enabling bi-directional, non-disputable, remote authentication. We believe that this level of improved security, without incremental hardware costs, represents a major breakthrough for carriers and financial service institutions, potentially driving even faster growth of the burgeoning mobile commerce market.”
ClassifEye will use the capital to port its technology to multiple OS systems for deployment on all major handset platforms, to integrate the technology within existing identity management applications and network architectures, and for initial marketing and sales. Nobska will also help ClassifEye launch its US operations, which will focus on applications development, support, sales and marketing. The company’s core technology development will continue in Israel.
ClassifEye’s CEO and co-founder, Rami Cohen, said, “We are very excited to be working with Nobska Ventures. Nobska has already helped us to better define, and to aggressively begin executing on our development and strategic partner roadmap. They bring a unique combination of hands-on support and a strong network of corporate contacts which will be very valuable as we build our business globally.”