Biometrics firm Veridium touched by $150,000 grant
Biometric authentication software company Veridium (formerly Hoyos Labs) has been awarded a $150,000 grant from Digital Financial Services Lab. The grant is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, reports Julie Muhn at Finovate.
Veridium earned the funds by completing the first DFS Lab Biometrics Challenge, which required groups to develop software-based technologies that can capture and verify fingerprints using only an Android smartphone.
The winnings are to be used to create a mobile app that can be used to enroll and match users in developing countries against government databases in order to ensure they receive government aid and money.
Lori Cohen, CMO of Veridium, says: “Our goal is to help design a new banking model, using our biometric authentication technology to bring the unbanked into the financial services system. Additionally, over time, [we aim to] improve their circumstances, making it possible to open a bank account, apply for credit, and achieve a level of financial stability.”
This isn’t Veridium’s first grant. The company earned a grant in 2017 in which it piloted a new digital banking model using biometric authentication in a partnership with Wala. The pilot aimed to bring accessible, zero-fee banking to residents of sub-Saharan Africa.
Earlier this year, the company deployed its VeridiumID platform with Nordea, the largest bank in the Nordic region.
Headquartered in London and Boston, Veridium was founded in 2015. James Stickland is CEO.
