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OSLO, NORWAY, BAGHDAD, IRAQ and BEIRUT, LEBANON – 17 MARCH 2022Zwipe, Al Mansour Bank and areeba have confirmed that they will pilot Biometric Payment Cards built on the Zwipe Pay platform in Iraq. This will be one of the earliest pilots of next generation contactless payment cards in the country.

Al Mansour Bank is a private bank with Qatar National Bank (QNB) as its majority owner. The bank was established in 2005 and today it has more than 10 branches across Iraq. The bank is always seeking innovative products to introduce to the Iraqi market. 

Speaking on this development, Mr. Roger Abboud, Head of Retail, AI Mansour Bank said, “Post pandemic, we have seen strong demand for PIN-free and touch-less payment solutions as they are safer and much more secure. We are delighted to partner with Zwipe, a leading provider of biometric payment technologies and areeba, a respected leader in innovative payment services. Biometric Payment Cards will uplift our payment portfolio and enable us to deliver excellent service quality to our customers. We are now working with both partners to launch pilots in the coming months.”

Mr. Issam Adra, General Manager of areeba Iraq said: “We are excited to be part of Al Mansour Bank’s biometric payment cards initiative and confident to deliver a world-class experience and security to the bank’s customers. areeba has for a long-time pioneered payment innovations that uplift customer loyalty, create unique differentiation and strong business cases for banks. Biometric payment cards will be instrumental in continuing this effort.”

Ramzi Saboury, General Manager of Zwipe in the MENA Region added, “The banking sector in Iraq is demonstrating a great appetite for innovation. We are thrilled with our collaboration with Al Mansour Bank on biometric payment cards together with areeba, one of our key partners in the region.”

For further information please contact: André Løvestam, CEO, +47 93 43 69 52 info@zwipe.com

About Al Mansour Bank

Al Mansour Bank is a private bank with Qatar National Bank (QNB) as its majority owner. The bank was established in 2005 and today it has more than 10 branches across Iraq. The bank is always seeking innovative products to introduce to the Iraqi market.

For more information, visit www.mbi.iq

About areeba

areeba is an electronic payment technology company licensed by Visa and MasterCard and has an agreement with American Express & Discover. Established in 2017, areeba adopts the latest technologies and provides solutions and payment services to banks, governments and merchants to suit their aspirations and needs. 

areeba offers services tailored to global requirements, from card issuance and management, non-contact payment solutions, contactless and mobile payment. It also provides merchants and governments with the latest e-commerce platform and point-of-sale machines that adopt the highest standards and safety systems. areeba operates a wide range of loyalty programs, including collecting points and miles, cashback programs, and providing consultancy services for the planning, design and development of electronic products and payment solutions. 

For more information, visit www.areeba.com, or @areebalebanon on LinkedIn, Facebook or Instagram. 

About Zwipe

Zwipe believes the inherent uniqueness of every person is the key to a safer future. We work with great passion across networks of international organizations, industries & cultures to make convenience safe & secure. We are pioneering next-generation biometric card and wearables technology for both payment and physical & logical access control and ID solutions. We promise our customers and partners deep insight and frictionless solutions, ensuring a seamless user experience with our innovative biometric products and services. Zwipe is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with a global presence. 

To learn more, visit www.zwipe.com

OSLO, NORWAY and TRIPOLI, LIBYA – 8th MARCH 2022 – Zwipe and Mediterranean Bank are pleased to confirm that they will pilot Biometric Payment Cards built on the Zwipe Pay platform, making it the first pilot of biometric payment cards in Libya.

Mediterranean Bank is a medium-sized bank in Libya, focusing on corporates, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs, with branches in all major Libyan cities like Benghazi, Tripoli and others. The bank is keen to pilot Zwipe’s disruptive “single silicon” biometric payment card platform and assess its impact on making payment experience seamless and more secure for consumers. Libya is a key emerging market in Africa that is seeking innovation in its payment ecosystem with the objective to minimize fraud, corruption and uplift user experience.

Speaking on this development, Mr. Ahmed Nafo, Chief Information Officer at Mediterranean Bank said, “We are very pleased to partner with Zwipe, a leading technology brand in biometric payment cards. We are especially proud to be the first bank in Libya to introduce this world-class innovation. We want to ensure that our customers are extremely well protected when using payment cards and enjoy a great user experience. Our collaboration with Zwipe is well timed and strongly complements our vision to be a customer centric bank. We are looking forward to launching the pilot in Q2 2022 as a step to deployment of the cards later in the year.”

As part of this collaboration, Zwipe will train key stakeholders in the bank on all aspects of issuing and managing biometric payment cards. These cards will be delivered by one of the Zwipe certified smart card manufacturers in the region.

Ramzi Saboury, General Manager of Zwipe in the MENA Region said, “We are excited to enter the Libyan market with Mediterranean Bank and help them to pilot their next generation payment cards. In close collaboration with our regional partners, we will be supporting the bank through all the stages of the pilot and launch, ensuring the best experience for the bank’s consumers.”

For further information please contact:
André Løvestam, CEO, +47 93 43 69 52
 info@zwipe.com

About Mediterranean Bank

Mediterranean Bank is a medium-sized bank in Libya, focusing on corporates, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs, with branches in all major Libyan cities like Benghazi, Tripoli and others.

For more info contact the bank at info@meditbank.ly, Tel: +218 61 9082167
or visit
www.meditbank.ly

About Zwipe

Zwipe believes the inherent uniqueness of every person is the key to a safer future. We work with great passion across networks of international organizations, industries & cultures to make convenience safe & secure. We are pioneering next-generation biometric card and wearables technology for both payment and physical & logical access control and identification solutions.  We promise our customers and partners deep insight and frictionless solutions, ensuring a seamless user experience with our innovative biometric products and services. Zwipe is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with a global presence.

To learn more, visit www.zwipe.com

OSLO, NORWAY and MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – 2 March 2022 – Placard, Australia’s largest card manufacturer and the only one qualified by all major card schemes, has selected biometric fintech pioneer Zwipe as its technology partner in pursuing the global market opportunities for biometric payment cards and other security products.

Placard delivers more than 100 million cards each year for the most established brands in the financial, retail, identification, government, loyalty and hospitality sectors. Placard’s success over the past two decades is accredited to high-quality products and a deep understanding of how new technology and product innovations can benefit customers and societies at large. With the disruptive Zwipe Pay platform, Placard will be able to deliver highly advanced and secure biometric card products that are also exceedingly user-friendly.

We are excited about the opportunity that this innovative technology represents. The biometric solution provided by Zwipe combines break-through technologies and is the ideal platform for the next generation of payment cards. We believe that highly secure touch-less payments and PIN-free cards create a very compelling proposition for consumers and that our collaboration with Zwipe will provide differentiation and meaningful commercial value to our customers”, said Tess Barone, General Manager Sales & Marketing, Placard.

As part of this agreement, Zwipe will provide biometric technology, technical services and go-to-market commercialization support to enable Placard to manufacture biometric cards. The partners will engage with issuers and other enterprises to run pilots from Q2 2022, followed by full commercial rollouts.

Commenting on this partnership, André Løvestam, CEO at Zwipe, said: “We are very pleased to announce our partnership with Placard, one of the most prominent card manufacturers in the Australasian region. There is a clear growing interest in biometric payment cards globally and Placard will be vital in accelerating the deployment of biometric payment cards to banks and consumers. Zwipe will be supporting Placard’s clients during their launch processes to ensure the best customer experience and successful commercialization.”

###

About Placard

Placard is an Australian organization which has been established since 1987, and is Australia’s largest secure plastic card manufacturer. Placard is continuously expanding, providing comprehensive card programs to over 500 clients and producing upwards of 100 million cards per year. Placard provides  end to end card solutions and has a reputation of meeting its commitments to its clients and consistently achieves service levels beyond its clients’ expectations.

Placard’s secure manufacturing and bureau facilities are Visa, MasterCard, China Union Pay and American Express accredited to the highest level.

Placard’s core competencies lie in the design, printing, manufacture, personalization and mailing of ISO Standard secure and non-secure plastic cards. With Bureau services encompassing the latest Visa and MasterCard EMV standards for embossing, manufacture of Dual Interface cards, magnetic stripe encoding, indent printing, thermal print duable flat graphics, high quality Drop on Demand personalization, laser printing processes and intelligent matching & mailing services.

For more information, please visit www.placard.com.au or call Tess Barone, General Manager, Sales & Marketing on +61 3 9722 5200.

About Zwipe

Zwipe believes the inherent uniqueness of every person is the key to a safer future. We work with great passion across networks of international organizations, industries and cultures to make convenience safe and secure. We are pioneering next-generation biometric card and wearables technology for payment and physical & logical access control and identification solutions. We promise our customers and partners deep insight and frictionless solutions, ensuring a seamless user experience with our innovative biometric products and services. Zwipe is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with a global presence.

To learn more, visit zwipe.com

For further information please contact:

André Løvestam, CEO, +47 934 36 952, info@zwipe.com

OSLO, NORWAY and DOHA, QATAR – 28 FEBRUARY 2022 - Zwipe has partnered with Qatar Fintech Hub to bring Zwipe Pay enabled next generation biometric payment cards in the market. With this technology, the partners will deliver the highest level of security and safety with world-class user experience in making in-store payments.

Founded by Qatar Development Bank (QDB), Qatar FinTech Hub supports the growth of the fintech industry in Qatar in collaboration with leading players in FinTech ecosystem in Qatar and tie ups with major FinTech hubs including the UK, Turkey, Australia and Singapore. There is a big focus on partnering with technology pioneers who will make a difference in the payments space and bring it to a new level of experience.

Ibrahim Abdulaziz Al Mannai, Executive Director – Advisory, Qatar Development Bank, said: “I am very happy to announce the collaboration with Zwipe and welcome them as a valued member at the Qatar Fintech Hub. Zwipe is one of the leading technology brands for biometric payment solutions. Our innovation programs have witnessed tremendous success since their launch, and we are extremely happy to incorporate biometrics now. This collaboration with greatly enrich our technology competency and help Qatar to become a regional hub of fintech solutions, catering to the needs of the global market.”

As part of this collaboration, both parties will join forces to drive education, awareness building and engagement on biometric payment solutions in Qatar enabling issuers to pilot and launch next generation payment experience.

Speaking on this collaboration, General Manager for Zwipe in the MENA region, Ramzi Saboury said, “We are honored to be partnering with Qatar Fintech Hub as we believe this collaboration will further accelerate the adoption of Zwipe Pay enabled biometric payment cards among fintechs, issuers, processors and consumers. Qatar is a core market for us in the MENA region and we are already engaging with issuers in the country to pilot Zwipe Pay and be amongst the first in MENA to deploy the next Gen biometric cards.”

About QFTH

Launched by Qatar Development Bank (QDB) in May 2018, with the support of Qatar Central Bank (QCB), Qatar FinTech Hub (QFTH) is part of QDB’s FinTech vision and ambitions.

QFTH is a global FinTech hub with the purpose to support the development of the FinTech industry in Qatar. It aims to facilitate collaboration among the participants and stakeholders of the FinTech ecosystem and develop local and global relationships that will advance the bank’s FinTech vision.

QFTH brings together talented entrepreneurs, investors, and enablers to develop disruptive technologies so that great visions become reality.

QFTH offers a globally interconnected cluster, which gathers a vibrant community of FinTech entrepreneurs, industry experts, regulators, and investors.

To offer the best global opportunities, expertise, and develop a collaborative FinTech ecosystem, QFTH has tied up with global FinTech hubs, financial institutions, universities, technology partners, industry experts and others.

QFTH holds considerable opportunities for economic diversification, one of the four pillars of the Qatar National Vision 2030 that seeks to “transform Qatar into an advanced society capable of achieving sustainable development” by 2030.

For further information please contact: André Løvestam, CEO, +47 934 36 952, info@zwipe.com

OSLO, NORWAY 23 February 2022 Zwipe AS today publishes its annual report 2021.

Highlights for 2021 include:  

 Financials

  • Revenues increased to MNOK 2.5 (MNOK 1.8). 
  • Operating expenditures increased to MNOK 85.5 (MNOK 63.7).   
  • EBITDA decreased to MNOK -74.6 (MNOK -59.9). 
  • Earnings per share of NOK -2.26 NOK (-1.89).
  • Net cash used in operating activities was MNOK -76.7 (MNOK -59.8).
  • Cash and short-term investments as at the end of the period amounted to MNOK 152 (MNOK 125). 
  • The Board of Directors proposes that no dividend be paid for 2021.

Significant events 2021 

  • Zwipe announced engagements with nine new smart card manufacturers and card personalization bureaus, representing an annual volume of more than 250 million payment cards.
  • Zwipe received commercial orders for complete Zwipe Pay deliveries worth more than MNOK 20, to be delivered primarily in 2022.
  • Zwipe announced commitments for pilots with eleven new issuers, including a global Tier-1 bank that will pilot Zwipe Pay in three European markets.
  • Zwipe entered go-to-market and implementation partnerships with leading payment processors.
  • Zwipe launched “Zwipe Access” to deliver next-generation access control based on biometrics.
  • Zwipe raised MNOK 104 in a private placement directed towards one of the Nordic’s most respected investors.

Significant events after the period 

  • Danielle Glenn has been appointed as the new CFO and Head of IR effective from 1 May 2022.
  • Zwipe announced a partnership with Modularsoft, a leading full-service smart card company in Malaysia, to deploy biometric payment cards.
  • sKarn RoboticS selects Zwipe to strengthen its WeCript Ecosystem for India and global markets with Biometric Cards.
  • A share capital increase of 384,000 new shares in Zwipe AS was registered 22nd of February 2022. The new share capital is NOK 3,736,668.50 and the new number of shares and votes is 37,366,685.

CEO comments 

"2021 was a transformative year for Zwipe, preparing the ground for commercial success in 2022.  

Our technology platform was upgraded to a cutting-edge, third-generation single silicon platform that provides best-in-class biometric performance at highly competitive cost levels. We prepared for submission of reference cards based on Zwipe Pay components to accredited laboratories for certification by both Visa and Mastercard. The submission has been made and, together with our biometric card manufacturing partners, the certification tests are proceeding according to plan. Based on this, and the core components in our Zwipe Pay platform being validated through Idemia’s certifications obtained in November 2021, we are confident we are closing in on certification as planned.

During 2021 we have also continued to build commercial momentum. We announced engagements with nine new smart card manufacturers and card personalization bureaus during the year, representing an annual volume above 250m payment cards. We also extended and expanded our partnership with TAG Systems, which delivers an additional 100+ million payment cards per annum. Each new partner and customer in our ecosystem contribute to increasing the value creation potential and reducing the risk for Zwipe and its stakeholders.

A great milestone for Zwipe in 2021 was the receipt of commercial orders from BCC, Inkript, and yet another card manufacturing customer for complete Zwipe Pay deliveries worth more than NOK 20m, to be delivered primarily in 2022. 

As a complement to our "push" approach, targeting smart card manufacturers as our direct customers, we continued to broaden our go-to-market strategy with the "pull" approach. That means we are marketing the benefits of biometric cards to partners and indirect clients, such as financial institutions – our customers’ customers. This move has allowed us to accelerate awareness, create strong demand for our biometric payment option, take more control of our destiny, and significantly strengthen our strategic position and brand equity. 

The results of these efforts started coming to fruition in 2021, when Zwipe announced commitments for 14 pilots with 11 new issuers, including a global Tier-1 bank that will pilot Zwipe Pay in three European markets. We also entered go-to-market and implementation partnerships with many payment processors and, most recently, a major US company that is one of the world’s largest payment services providers. Such partners enable us to leverage their long-term, trust-based relationships with hundreds of banks worldwide to further accelerate the deployment of biometric payment cards built on our platform. I often refer to this as “the Megaphone Effect”, which is fundamental to our pull strategy.

We have upgraded our sales-enabling services and tools to support these processes and our customers. For example, this has resulted in the launch of new services such as "Zwipe Experience" (pilot and launch program services) and Zwipe Insights (consumer research to gauge demand for biometric payments), to name a few. The ROI calculator for issuers, created together with industry experts, is another example. It demonstrated that, even without an additional card fee from consumers, Zwipe Pay could deliver a $22.4m annual net benefit for an average US issuer converting a portfolio of 1 million credit cards, 1 million debit cards, and 100,000 commercial cards to biometric cards. 

As part of our end-to-end offering, ranging from leading technology to professional sales enablement, these kinds of services and initiatives make Zwipe stand out from the crowd, adding considerable value to customers.

In addition, Zwipe announced its first entry into adjacent sectors, starting with the launch of “Zwipe Access”, building on years of investments into our advanced biometric authentication technology platform designed to fulfil the highest criteria for security, scalability, and mass-volume implementation. At the same time, we announced collaborations with several leading companies in the security industry; notably HID Global, LeGrand, and Southco. This coalition will bring a highly advanced, cost-effective biometric authentication solution to market, fully capable of working with existing access control infrastructure. 

We also raised NOK 104 million in a private placement directed towards one of the Nordic’s most respected investors, Erik Selin. This means that our shareholder base and finances have been significantly strengthened in 2021. 

Adding to our confidence in our future outlook is the consistent evidence from numerous consumer surveys covering more than 2,500 cardholders from diverse markets around the world that cardholders want the touch-less and PIN-free experience with world-class security that is made possible by biometric payment cards. 56% said they were willing to pay to get a biometric card and 57% said they were willing to switch banks to get a biometric card. These findings, which are consistent with survey findings of industry peers and other analyst reports, suggest that launches of biometric cards will offer valuable differentiation to first-moving banks and trigger competitive reactions from others. 

Like most other companies engaged in multinational development projects, Zwipe has, as mentioned before, been impacted by COVID-19 through added complexity and extended lead times. However, I have been impressed by the grit and determination of my team and technology partners, systematically overcoming hurdles and setbacks along the way. 

I want to express my deep gratitude to the exceptional team of Zwipers for their unfailing efforts through this challenging pandemic which has taken its toll on everyone.

My sincere thanks also go out to all our customers, partners, and shareholders for supporting our journey and sharing our mission - Making Convenience Safe and Secure. 

I am looking forward to 2022 with a lot of excitement due to the prospects ahead.” says CEO of Zwipe André Løvestam.

Please find the annual report here

### 


About Zwipe 

Zwipe believes the inherent uniqueness of every person is the key to a safer future. We work with great passion across networks of international organizations, industries and cultures to make convenience safe and secure. We are pioneering next-generation biometric card and wearables technology for payment and physical & logical access control and identification solutions. We promise our customers and partners deep insight and frictionless solutions, ensuring a seamless user experience with our innovative biometric products and services. Zwipe is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with a global presence.  

To learn more, visit zwipe.com 

For more information, please contact:  

Lars Kristian Solheim, CFO 
+47 991 661 35 
lars.kristian@zwipe.com 

OSLO, NORWAY – 23 February 2022 – Zwipe AS today publishes its second half-year 2021 report.

Summary of financial development for the second half-year 2021:

  • Revenues of MNOK 1.14 (MNOK 0.96).
  • Operating expenditures increased to MNOK 57.5 (MNOK 31.3). 
  • EBITDA decreased to MNOK -49.2 (MNOK -29.1).  
  • Earnings per share of NOK -1.53 (NOK -0.93).
  • Net cash used in operating activities in the period was MNOK -46.5 (MNOK -21.1).
  • Cash and short-term investments as at the end of the period amounted to MNOK 152 (MNOK 125).   
  • The Board of Directors proposes that no dividend be paid for 2021.

Please find the second half-year report here

The annual report 2021 will be released through a separate stock exchange announcement shortly after this announcement. 

                                                                                                                 ###
 

About Zwipe

Zwipe believes the inherent uniqueness of every person is the key to a safer future. We work with great passion across networks of international organizations, industries and cultures to make convenience safe and secure. We are pioneering next-generation biometric card and wearables technology for payment and physical & logical access control and identification solutions. We promise our customers and partners deep insight and frictionless solutions, ensuring a seamless user experience with our innovative biometric products and services. Zwipe is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with a global presence. 

To learn more, visit zwipe.com

For more information, please contact: 
Lars Kristian Solheim, CFO
+47 991 661 35
lars.kristian@zwipe.com

This is information that Zwipe AS is obligated to make public pursuant to the continuing obligations of companies admitted to trading on Euronext Growth Oslo, Nasdaq First North Growth Market and the EU Market Abuse Regulation. Certified Adviser on Nasdaq First North is FNCA Sweden AB, info@fnca.se, +46 (0)8528 00 399. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above, at 07:58 CET on 23 February 2022.

OSLO, NORWAY – 23 February 2022- The share capital increase of 384,000 new shares in Zwipe AS, as resolved by the board meeting of the company on 20 January 2022, has today been registered in the Norwegian Register of Business Enterprises. The new share capital is NOK 3,736,668.50, and the new number of shares and votes are 37,366,685.

                                                                                                                          ###


About Zwipe

Zwipe believes the inherent uniqueness of every person is the key to a safer future. We work with great passion across networks of international organizations, industries and cultures to make convenience safe and secure. We are pioneering next-generation biometric card and wearables technology for payment and physical & logical access control and identification solutions. We promise our customers and partners deep insight and frictionless solutions, ensuring a seamless user experience with our innovative biometric products and services. Zwipe is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with a global presence.

To learn more, visit zwipe.com

For more information, please contact: 
Lars Kristian Solheim, CFO
+47 991 661 35
lars.kristian@zwipe.com

This is information that Zwipe AS is obligated to make public pursuant to the continuing obligations of companies admitted to trading on Euronext Growth Market Oslo and on Nasdaq First North Growth Market Stockholm. Certified Adviser on Nasdaq First North is FNCA Sweden AB, info@fnca.se, +46 (0) 8528 00 399. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above, at 00:20 CET on 23 February 2022.

OSLO, NORWAY – 22 February 2022- The share capital increase of 384,000 new shares in Zwipe AS, as resolved by the board meeting of the company on 20 January 2022, has today been registered in the Norwegian Register of Business Enterprises. The new share capital is NOK 3,736,668.50, and the new number of shares and votes are 37,266,685.

                                                            ###


About Zwipe

Zwipe believes the inherent uniqueness of every person is the key to a safer future. We work with great passion across networks of international organizations, industries and cultures to make convenience safe and secure. We are pioneering next-generation biometric card and wearables technology for payment and physical & logical access control and identification solutions. We promise our customers and partners deep insight and frictionless solutions, ensuring a seamless user experience with our innovative biometric products and services. Zwipe is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with a global presence.

To learn more, visit zwipe.com

For more information, please contact: 
Lars Kristian Solheim, CFO
+47 991 661 35
lars.kristian@zwipe.com

This is information that Zwipe AS is obligated to make public pursuant to the continuing obligations of companies admitted to trading on Euronext Growth Market Oslo and on Nasdaq First North Growth Market Stockholm. Certified Adviser on Nasdaq First North is FNCA Sweden AB, info@fnca.se, +46 (0) 8528 00 399. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above, at 20:00 CET on 22 February 2022.

OSLO, NORWAY and DELHI, INDIA – 21 February 2022 – sKarn RoboticS, a high-tech company providing security and privacy solutions to businesses, consumers, and the government sector, is strengthening its solution portfolio with biometric access control and co-branded biometric payment cards built on Zwipe’s technology. Headquartered in Oslo with a global presence, Zwipe is pioneering the deployment of the next generation biometric payment and access control cards globally.

Founded in 2019, sKarn RoboticS is one of the key contributors to the ‘Self Reliance’ initiative of the Indian government. The company is investing heavily in building ultra-secure digital products and services ecosystems for end-users and businesses. Its WeCript portfolio delivers high-grade security and privacy controls for remote communication, secure searching, browsing, SaaS and e-commerce. Right to privacy, right to freedom and right to information are the three core values at sKarn RoboticS. The company recently won “2021 Global Revolutionary Founder of the Year” and “2021 Global Innovative Product of the Year” from the Government of India.

Speaking on the collaboration, sKarn RoboticS’s Founder & COO, THE KARN, said, “Our mission is to provide highly secured digital services that significantly empower end-users with top rated privacy, security and digital experience. Zwipe’s extremely secure biometric payment and access control cards strongly complement our core values and fit perfectly in the WeCript Ecosystem, our solution portfolio. From Q3 2022 or before, we aim to launch pilots for our B2C and B2B customers with a few thousand biometric access control and payment cards and expect a rapid scale-up thereafter. Biometric cards will create meaningful value for all our customers.”

sKarn RoboticS will take deliveries from selected manufacturers of biometric cards in Zwipe’s global ecosystem with focus on India and key growth markets.

Commenting on this development, André Løvestam, Chief Executive Officer at Zwipe, said: “It is great to see an ambitious and fast-moving high-tech security solution provider such as sKarn RoboticS, with its WeCript Ecosystem, recognize the value of biometric cards for its customers. Both organizations share the passion to deliver enhanced security, privacy and convenience to our direct customers and end customers. We are very much looking forward to our collaboration with sKarn RoboticS and their customers”.

                                                                                                               ###

About sKarn RoboticS

Founded in 2019 by THE KARN, sKarn RoboticS is an Indian tech start-up company, govt. accredited and recognized by DPIIT as start-up India. Carrying forward the Indian government's initiative, sKarn RoboticS is working on prioritizing the significance of building a safe and secure internet ecosystem for the users and businesses. Its private and secure product line named "WeCript Ecosystem'' is a product of the visionary thinking of the founder of sKarn RoboticS, THE KARN about making India and world self-reliant. The company aims to ensure data protection and privacy for users, serving right and relevant results across the web through WeCript Ecosystem.

Core Values of sKarn/Wecript Ecosystem:

  • Right to Privacy – Protecting online privacy and user safety.
  • Right to Information – Ensuring information is reliable as well as accurate.
  • Right to Freedom – Ensuring every search query is unique and not influenced

About Zwipe

Zwipe believes the inherent uniqueness of every person is the key to a safer future. We work with great passion across networks of international organizations, industries and cultures to make convenience safe and secure. We are pioneering next-generation biometric card and wearables technology for payment and physical & logical access control and identification solutions. We promise our customers and partners deep insight and frictionless solutions, ensuring a seamless user experience with our innovative biometric products and services. Zwipe is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with a global presence.

To learn more, visit zwipe.com

For further information please contact: André Løvestam, CEO, +47 934 36 952,  info@zwipe.com

Media Inquiries

Patrice Meilland,
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OSLO, NORWAY – 14 September 2020  Biometric fintech company Zwipe and Cardmatix Ltd., a leading supplier of card manufacturing equipment, are partnering to collaborate on the design, development and commercialization of equipment and modular solutions to support milling and embedding of fingerprint sensors for biometric payment card manufacturing at mass volumes.                                                                            

Headquartered in Dongguan, China, Cardmatix is a leading player in the development of industrial manufacturing and testing equipment specifically for mass production of payment cards.

“We have cooperated closely with Zwipe through our sister company Silone Cardtech, and we are convinced the biometric payment card market is poised for mass-volume take-off. Our industrial solutions will make smart card manufacturers’ job of producing millions of biometric payment cards much more cost-efficient thanks to the unique insights shared by Zwipe’s technical team,” said Cardmatix CEO, Mr. John Wu.

Zwipe has a long-standing collaboration with Silone Cardtech. The Chinese market is expected to see strong payment card growth with many established stakeholders fast-tracking their capacity to support demand.

 “This is an important step in preparing our supply chain and global capacity to meet future demand. Cardmatix is one of the world’s most well-established high-volume card manufacturing equipment providers and we are excited to broaden our ability to serve our customers with their strong support.” said André Løvestam, CEO of Zwipe.

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About CardMatix Ltd.

Cardmatix was established in 2002 to focus on the manufacturing of equipment for the production and testing of contact, contactless, and dual-interface smart cards for the world market. With 20 years’ experience in design, manufacturing, and marketing on smart card production related machineries, Cardmatix has been one of the leading solution providers worldwide in the card industry with durable, high speed machines engineered for easy maintenance and years of reliable service.

For more information contact: John  Wu, CEO +86 0769 86855889

OSLO, NORWAY - 08 September 2020- The board of directors of Zwipe AS call for an Extraordinary General Meeting to be held on 29 September 2020 at 10:00 CET.

Please find enclosed the notice of the Extraordinary General Meeting.

Notice of attendance, in person or by proxy, shall be given no later than 28 September 2020 at 16:00 CET. Shareholders are encouraged to register via the following link here

Alternatively, the attached form may be sent by e-mail to genf@dnb.no, or regular post to DNB Bank ASA, Verdipapirservice, NO-0021 Oslo.

The board of directors (the "Board") has proposed the following agenda:

  1. Opening of the General Meeting by the chair. Registration of meeting shareholders
  2. Election of a meeting chairperson and person to co-sign the minutes together with the chairperson
  3. Approval of the notice and the agenda
  4. Approval of capital increase directed against the chair of the Board
  5. Proposal to issue a new authorization to the Board to strengthen the Company's equity
  6. Proposal to amend the provision in the articles of association on notice period for the general meeting

Proposed decisions from the Board and the Nomination Committee (extracts only, please see the attachments to the notice for the full proposals)

Matter no. 4: Approval of capital increase directed against the chair of the Board

The general meeting resolved to approve the board's use of the authorization to increase the share capital to strengthen the Company's equity to issue and allocate shares to the chair of the board of directors in the board meeting on 7 September 2020.

Matter no. 5: Proposal to issue a new authorization to the Board to strengthen the Company's equity

As the Board has used the registered authorization to strengthen the Company's equity to complete the Private Placement, the Board proposes that the general meeting resolves to issue a new authorization to the board to increase the Company's equity (including to facilitate for a potential repair issue).

The board of directors is hereby granted authorization to increase the company's share capital, on one or several occasions, with up to NOK 319,065.80 (3,190,658 new shares), equivalent to 10% of the share capital after the Private Placement has been completed.

The authorization may be used to issue shares to strengthen the company's equity to the extent the board of directors considers this to be in the company's best interest at the given time.

Matter no. 6: Proposal to amend the provision in the articles of association on notice period for the general meeting

The notice period to the general meeting (ordinary and extraordinary) is 7 days, from 21 days in the company’s articles of association prior to this meeting.

###

About Zwipe

Zwipe is pioneering the next generation contactless payments experience, providing biometric payment cards and wearables that enable consumers to authorize transactions with their fingerprints without compromising their privacy. Together with an ecosystem of partners including global brands within digital security and financial services, Zwipe is "Making Convenience Safe & Secure" for banks, merchants and consumers. Zwipe's solutions address the hygiene and data theft pitfalls inherent in traditional authentication methods. Headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with a global presence, Zwipe is leading the next great shift in payments from contactless to contact free. To learn more, visit www.zwipe.com

For more information, please contact:

Lars Kristian Solheim, CFO

+47 991 661 35

lars.kristian@zwipe.com

This is information that Zwipe AS is obligated to make public pursuant to the continuing obligations of companies admitted to trading on Oslo Børs Merkur Market and on Nasdaq First North Growth Market. Certified Adviser on Nasdaq First North is FNCA Sweden AB, info@fnca.se, +46 (0)8528 00 399. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out below, at 15:20 CET on 08 September 2020.

NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN AUSTRALIA, CANADA, JAPAN OR THE UNITED STATES OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION IN WHICH THE RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION WOULD BE UNLAWFUL. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER OF ANY OF THE SECURITIES DESCRIBED HEREIN. PLEASE SEE THE IMPORTANT NOTICE AT THE END OF THE PRESS RELEASE.

OSLO, NORWAY – 07 September 2020 – Reference is made to the stock exchange release from Zwipe AS (“Zwipe” or the “Company”) published earlier this evening regarding a contemplated private placement.

The Company is pleased to announce that it has raised approximately NOK 96 million in gross proceeds through a private placement (the "Private Placement") of 6,381,315 new shares (the "New Shares"), at a price of NOK 15 per share. The Private Placement took place through an accelerated book building process managed by retained Arctic Securities AS and Erik Penser Bank AB (publ) as joint bookrunners (together the "Managers") after close of markets on 7 September 2020. The Offer Shares were placed to international institutional investors and existing shareholders of the Company.

The net proceeds of the Private Placement will be used to fund further development and commercialization of the Company, general operating cost and strategic investments.

André Løvestam, CEO of Zwipe said: "After completion of this private placement, Zwipe is funded through commercial launches in 2021 and beyond based on the current business plan and market assumptions. We now look forward to taking a leading role in the biometric payment space and embarking on a long journey of value creation for our customers, our shareholders and society at large.”

Jörgen Lantto, chairman of the board of directors of Zwipe (“the Board”) said: “We are humble and proud to receive overwhelming support from high quality international and Nordic institutional investors, considerably strengthening our shareholder base. In particular, the new funding will allow the company to further accelerate our commercial activities to cater for the strong demand from smart card manufacturers and card issuers for Zwipe Pay ONE, our new technology platform for biometric payment cards”.

The payment date for the Offer Shares will be on or about 10 September 2020, with delivery of the Offer Shares expected on or about 14 September 2020. The Offer Shares will be tradable following the registration of the share capital increase in the Norwegian Register of Business Enterprises expected to take place on or about 14 September 2020, and trading is expected to commence simultaneously at Merkur Market and Nasdaq First North Growth Market on or about 14 September 2020.

The completion of the Private Placement was subject to approval by the Board pursuant to an authorisation to increase the share capital given by the annual general meeting held on 14 May 2020. 

Following registration of the new share capital pertaining to the Private Placement, the Company will have 31,906,576 shares outstanding, each with a par value of NOK 0.10.

Primary insider Jörgen Lantto, chairman of the Company, was allocated 333,333 shares in the Private Placement. Mr. Lantto's shareholding after completion of the rights issue will be 866,666 shares. The allocation of shares to Jörgen Lantto is subject to shareholder approval at an extraordinary general meeting.

Primary insider Energetic AS, owned by André Løvestam, CEO of Zwipe, was allocated 20,000 shares in the Private Placement. Following this transaction, André Løvestam owns 500,000 shares in the Company through Energetic AS.

Primary insider Lars Kristian Solheim, CFO of Zwipe, was allocated 20,000 shares in the Private Placement. Following this transaction, Lars Kristian Solheim owns 90,000 shares in the Company.

Primary insider Bishwajit Choudhary, EVP of Strategy and Channels of Zwipe, was allocated 20,000 shares in the Private Placement. Following this transaction, Bishwajit Choudhary owns 25,500 shares in the Company.

Primary insider Dr. Robert Mueller, CTO of Zwipe, was allocated 20,000 shares in the Private Placement. Following this transaction, Dr. Robert Mueller owns 48,572 shares in the Company.

Primary insider Eric Mercer, CEO of Zwipe America Inc., was allocated 5,500 shares in the Private Placement. Following this transaction, Eric Mercer owns 5 500 shares in the Company.

The Board will shortly call for an extraordinary general meeting, to be held on or about 29 September 2020 (“the EGM”), which will be requested, inter alia, to make a new authorisation to the Board to issue shares to strengthen the Company's equity. Provided that the EGM provides the authorisation, it is the Board's intention to use this to carry out a subsequent offering of up to NOK 15 million / 1,000,000 shares towards shareholders of the Company as of 7 September 2020 (as registered in the VPS and Euroclear Sweden AB) who (i) were not allocated Offer Shares in the Private Placement, and (ii) are not resident in a jurisdiction where such offering would be unlawful, or would (in jurisdictions other than Norway and Sweden) require any prospectus, filing, registration or similar action. Such shareholders will be granted non-transferable subscription rights to subscribe for, and, upon subscription, be allocated new shares. One subscription right will entitle the holder to subscribe for one share in the Subsequent Offering. Oversubscription and subscription without rights will be allowed. The subscription price in the Subsequent Offering will be the same as the subscription price in the Private Placement. The Subsequent Offering will, if approved, commence after a prospectus describing the Subsequent Offering has been approved by the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway. The Board may at its discretion decide not to proceed with the Subsequent Offering.

The Board has considered the offering of new shares in Private Placement in light of the equal treatment obligations under the Continuing obligations of companies admitted to trading on Merkur Market and Oslo Børs' Circular no. 2/2014, and is of the opinion that the contemplated transaction is in compliance with these requirements. The Board of Directors concluded that the waiver of the preferential rights inherent in a private placement was considered necessary in the interest of time and successful completion of the share issue. The Private Placement will allow the Company to raise capital faster, with a lower discount and with significantly lower transaction costs than what a rights issue would entail, and it will also allow for the Company to strengthen its shareholder base to the benefit of the shareholders and the Company. On this basis, and based on an assessment of the current equity markets, the Board has considered the Private Placement to be in the common interest of the Company and its shareholders. As a consequence of the Private Placement structure, the shareholders' preferential rights will be deviated from.

Advokatfirmaet Simonsen Vogt Wiig AS is acting as legal advisor to Zwipe with respect to Norwegian law,  White & Case Advokat AB and Kanter Advokatbyrå KB are acting as legal advisor with respect to Swedish law.

About Zwipe

Zwipe is pioneering the next generation contactless payments experience, providing biometric payment cards and wearables that enable consumers to authorize transactions with their fingerprints without compromising their privacy. Together with an ecosystem of partners including global brands within digital security and financial services, Zwipe is "Making Convenience Safe & Secure" for banks, merchants and consumers. Zwipe's solutions address the hygiene and data theft pitfalls inherent in traditional authentication methods. Headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with a global presence, Zwipe is leading the next great shift in payments from contactless to contact free. To learn more, visit www.zwipe.com

For further information please contact: André Løvestam, CEO, +47 991 66 135  ir@zwipe.com

This is information that Zwipe AS is obliged to make public pursuant to the Continuing obligations of companies admitted to trading on Oslo Børs Merkur Market, Nasdaq First North Growth Market and the EU Market Abuse Regulation. Certified Adviser on Nasdaq First North is FNCA Sweden AB, info@fnca.se, +46 (0) 8 528 00 399. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above, at 23:50 CET on 7 September 2020. 

###

This release is issued for information purposes only, and does not constitute or form a part of any offer or solicitation to purchase or subscribe for securities in the United States, or any other jurisdiction in which such distribution would be unlawful or would require registration or other measures. The securities mentioned herein have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "US Securities Act"). The securities may not be offered or sold in the United States except pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of the US Securities Act. The Company does not intend to register any portion of the offering of the securities in the United States or to conduct a public offering of the securities in the United States. Copies of this announcement are not being made and may not be distributed or sent into Australia, Canada, Japan or the United States.

The issue, subscription or purchase of shares in the Company is subject to specific legal or regulatory restrictions in certain jurisdictions. Neither the Company nor the Managers assume any responsibility in the event there is a violation by any person of such restrictions.

The distribution of this release may in certain jurisdictions be restricted by law. Persons into whose possession this release comes should inform themselves about and observe any such restrictions. Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.

The Managers are acting for the Company and no one else in connection with the Private Placement and will not be responsible to anyone other than the Company providing the protections afforded to their respective clients or for providing advice in relation to the Private Placement and/or any other matter referred to in this release.

Forward-looking statements: This release and any materials distributed in connection with this release may contain certain forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they reflect the Company's current expectations and assumptions as to future events and circumstances that may not prove accurate. A number of material factors could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN AUSTRALIA, CANADA, JAPAN OR THE UNITED STATES OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION IN WHICH THE RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION WOULD BE UNLAWFUL. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER OF ANY OF THE SECURITIES DESCRIBED HEREIN. PLEASE SEE THE IMPORTANT NOTICE AT THE END OF THE PRESS RELEASE. 

OSLO, NORWAY – 07 September 2020 – Zwipe AS (“Zwipe” or the “Company”) has retained Arctic Securities AS and Erik Penser Bank AB (publ) as joint bookrunners (the "Managers") to advise on and effect a private placement of up to 6,381,315 new shares (the “Offer Shares”) equal to 25% of the outstanding shares in the Company, directed towards Norwegian and international investors, in each case subject to and in compliance with applicable exemptions from relevant registration, filing and prospectus requirements, and subject to other applicable selling restrictions (the "Private Placement"). The Managers have prior to launch received indications of demand covering the transaction size. 

Jörgen Lantto, chair of the Company’s Board of directors (“the Board”), has committed to subscribe for new shares in the Private Placement for a subscription amount of NOK 5 million, subject to approval by an extraordinary general meeting in the Company to be convened shortly after allocation of the Private Placement (the "EGM").  

André Løvestam, CEO, Lars Kristian Solheim, CFO, Bishwajit Choudhary, EVP of Strategy and Channels, and Dr. Robert Mueller, CTO, have all committed to subscribe for 20 000 new shares each in the Private Placement. Eric Mercer, CEO of Zwipe America Inc, has committed to subscribe for 5 500 new shares in the Private Placement.  

The net proceeds of the Private Placement will be used to fund further development and commercialization of the Company, general operating costs and strategic investments. After completion of this private placement, Zwipe is funded through commercial launches in 2021 and beyond based on the current business plan and market assumptions.  

The subscription price and number of Offer Shares to be issued in the Private Placement will be determined by the Board following an accelerated book building process. The minimum application and allocation amount have been set to the NOK equivalent of EUR 100,000. The Company may however, at its sole discretion, allocate an amount below EUR 100,000 to the extent applicable exemptions from the prospectus requirement pursuant to the EU Prospectus Regulation (as implemented in Norway by the Norwegian Securities Trading Act and through similar legislation in other EEA states) are available.  

The book building period for the Private Placement commences today at 17:30 CEST and closes 7 September 2020 at 21:00 CEST. The Managers and the Company may, however, at any time resolve to close or extend the book building period, or cancel the Private Placement, at their sole discretion and on short notice. If the book building period is shortened or extended, any other dates referred to herein may be amended accordingly. Allocation of the Offer Shares will be determined at the end of the book building period, and the final allocation will be made by the Board at its sole discretion, following advice from the Managers. Notice of allocation of Offer Shares is expected to be sent to the investors on or about 8 September 2020. 

The payment date for the Offer Shares will be on or about 10 September 2020, with delivery of the Offer Shares expected on or about 14 September 2020. The Offer Shares will be tradable following the registration of the share capital increase in the Norwegian Register of Business Enterprises expected to take place on or about 14 September 2020, and trading is expected to commence simultaneously at Merkur Market and Nasdaq First North Growth Market on or about 14 September 2020. 

The completion of the Private Placement is subject to approval by the Board of the Company pursuant to an authorization to increase the share capital given by the annual general meeting held on 14 May 2020.   

The Board has considered the offering of new shares in Private Placement in light of the equal treatment obligations under the Continuing obligations of companies admitted to trading on Merkur Market and Oslo Børs' Circular no. 2/2014, and is of the opinion that the contemplated transaction is in compliance with these requirements. The Board of Directors concluded that the waiver of the preferential rights inherent in a private placement was considered necessary in the interest of time and successful completion of the share issue. The Private Placement will allow the Company to raise capital faster, with a lower discount and with significantly lower transaction costs than what a rights issue would entail, and it will also allow for the Company to broaden its shareholder base to the benefit of the shareholders and the Company. On this basis, and based on an assessment of the current equity markets, the Board has considered the Private Placement to be in the common interest of the Company and its shareholders. As a consequence of the Private Placement structure, the shareholders' preferential rights will be deviated from. 

The Private Placement is directed towards investors subject to applicable exemptions from relevant prospectus requirements (i) outside the United States in reliance on Regulation S under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, (the “US Securities Act”) and (ii) in the United States to "accredited investors" as defined in the US Securities Act Rule 501(a), acquiring the Offer Shares for investment purposes for its own account, or pursuant to another exemption from the registration requirements of the US Securities Act. 

The Board will consider to carry out a subsequent offering of new shares in the Company (the “Subsequent Offering”) which, subject to applicable securities laws, will be directed towards existing shareholders in the Company as of 7 September 2020 (as registered in the VPS and Euroclear Sweden AB on 9 September 2020) who (i) were not allocated Offer Shares in the Private Placement, and (ii) are not resident in a jurisdiction where such offering would be unlawful, or would (in jurisdictions other than Norway and Sweden) require any prospectus, filing, registration or similar action. The subscription price in a potential Subsequent Offering will be equal to the subscription price in the Private Placement.  

Existing shareholders that participate in the Private Placement will irrevocably undertake to vote for their shares in favor of the resolution(s) proposed at the EGM to issue shares to Jörgen Lantto and the potential Subsequent Offering.  

Advokatfirmaet Simonsen Vogt Wiig AS is acting as legal advisor to Zwipe with respect to Norwegian law, and White & Case Advokat AB  and Kanter Advokatbyrå KB are acting as legal advisors with respect to Swedish law.  

About Zwipe 

Zwipe is pioneering the next generation contactless payments experience, providing biometric payment cards and wearables that enable consumers to authorize transactions with their fingerprints without compromising their privacy. Together with an ecosystem of partners including global brands within digital security and financial services, Zwipe is "Making Convenience Safe & Secure" for banks, merchants and consumers. Zwipe's solutions address the hygiene and data theft pitfalls inherent in traditional authentication methods. Headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with a global presence, Zwipe is leading the next great shift in payments from contactless to contact free. To learn more visit www.zwipe.com

For more information contact André Løvestam, CEO +47 991 66 135 ir@zwipe.com

 

This is information that Zwipe AS is obliged to make public pursuant to the Continuing obligations of companies admitted to trading on Oslo Børs Merkur Market, Nasdaq First North Growth Market and the EU Market Abuse Regulation. Certified Adviser on Nasdaq First North is FNCA Sweden AB, info@fnca.se, +46 (0) 8528 00 399. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above, at 17:40 CET on 7 September 2020. 

### 

This release is issued for information purposes only, and does not constitute or form a part of any offer or solicitation to purchase or subscribe for securities in the United States, or any other jurisdiction in which such distribution would be unlawful or would require registration or other measures. The securities mentioned herein have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "US Securities Act"). The securities may not be offered or sold in the United States except pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of the US Securities Act. The Company does not intend to register any portion of the offering of the securities in the United States or to conduct a public offering of the securities in the United States. Copies of this announcement are not being made and may not be distributed or sent into Australia, Canada, Japan or the United States.  

The issue, subscription or purchase of shares in the Company is subject to specific legal or regulatory restrictions in certain jurisdictions. Neither the Company nor the Managers assume any responsibility in the event there is a violation by any person of such restrictions.  

The distribution of this release may in certain jurisdictions be restricted by law. Persons into whose possession this release comes should inform themselves about and observe any such restrictions. Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.  

The Managers are acting for the Company and no one else in connection with the Private Placement and will not be responsible to anyone other than the Company providing the protections afforded to their respective clients or for providing advice in relation to the Private Placement and/or any other matter referred to in this release.  

Forward-looking statements: This release and any materials distributed in connection with this release may contain certain forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they reflect the Company's current expectations and assumptions as to future events and circumstances that may not prove accurate. A number of material factors could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. 

OSLO, NORWAY – 27 August 2020, CET 09:40 – Zwipe AS today publishes its half-year report for H1 2020.

The update is with reference to the EU Market Abuse Regulations

Highlights for first half-year 2020 include:

Financials

Second Quarter

  • Second quarter revenues at TNOK 486 (241)
  • Second quarter result after tax at TNOK -15 842 (-20 989)
  • Result per share for the second quarter of NOK -0.62 (-1.32)
  • Cash flow from operations before financing at TNOK -14 789 (-22 554)

First Half Year

  • Total revenues for the first half year TNOK 880 (348)
  • Result after tax at TNOK -31 590 (-36 329)
  • Result per share for the first half year of NOK -1.23 (-2.28)
  • New equity TNOK 67 004 was raised in January 2020
  • Cash flow from operations before financing and facilitation at TNOK -42 016 (-33 971)
  • Cash and cash equivalents amounted to TNOK 43 168 on the day of closing, 30 June 2020

Significant events during the period

  • 28 Jan: Zwipe lists on Nasdaq First North Growth Market in Stockholm, Sweden
  • 25 Mar: Masria Digital Payments selects Zwipe for biometric payments
  • 08 Apr: IDEMIA, Zwipe and IDEX achieve key milestone towards next generation biometric card platform
  • 20 Apr: Zwipe and IDEX collaborate on Zwipe Pay ONE platform
  • 22 Apr: Zwipe partners with Toppan Forms Card Technologies (TFCT) on biometric payment cards
  • 23 Apr: Zwipe nominates industry leaders as new board members
  • 28 Apr: Zwipe partners with Asia Credit Card to roll out biometric payment card products and services
  • 02 Jun: Zwipe appoints new Executive Vice President Strategy & Channels
  • 08 Jun: Zwipe steps up collaboration with TFCT, with TFCT placing an order 
  • 18 Jun: Zwipe and Watchdata partner to launch next generation contactless payments
  • 29 Jun: Zwipe and Thomas Greg and Sons do Brasil renew and extend exclusive partnership

Significant actions after the period

  • 01 Jul: Zwipe and Publicenter collaborate on biometric payment solutions
  • 28 Jul: Zwipe and Liveo Research partner to enhance biometric payment card offering
  • 18 Aug: Zwipe and Smart Technology Services ramp up collaboration to industrialize Zwipe Pay ONE
  • 20 Aug: Zwipe and Wisecard join forces to drive the mass market adoption of biometric payment card

CEO comment

The first half of 2020 has been very productive, and a period marked by progress and major achievements for Zwipe. At a time when the public is particularly attuned to the benefits of social distancing, the payment ecosystem has increasingly embraced the need for secure, contactless payment technologies. COVID-19 has been a game-changer for market acceptance of the need for truly touchless payment solutions such as those offered by Zwipe.

The year began with Zwipe successfully listing on Nasdaq’s First North Growth Market in Sweden, boosting liquidity and investor awareness through access to a broader investor community.

We continued building our end-to-end ecosystem, expanding our customer network globally, forging several new strategic technical partnerships, securing important orders and extending exclusive partnerships. All of this while continuing to make progress on our previously announced key projects, Zwipe Pay ONE with IDEMIA and IDEX, and the wearables project with Giesecke+Devrient (G+D).

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has elevated the focus on safety and significantly increased the growth of contactless transactions. This, in turn has led to raised contactless transaction limits all over the world and has served to highlight the improved hygiene and safety benefits of biometric payments. During 2020, the first announcements of upcoming small-scale commercial launches of biometric payment cards to consumers have been made, proving that the industry is ready to start serving a mass market.

We believe we hold the key to the next step of broad-scale, high-volume adoption of biometric payment cards through our cooperation with IDEMIA on Zwipe Pay ONE, which will reduce manufacturing cost for biometric payment cards to a level that enables card issuers to start mass-volume deployment.

Consequently, we are doubling down our efforts to serve the market, with immediate results. As previously announced, we have an ongoing dialogue with more than 40 out of the world’s top 50 smart card manufacturers. During H1 2020 we have seen very good progress in our sales pipeline. We have announced that five new smart card manufacturers have decided to adopt Zwipe Pay ONE once it is available for early sampling, planned for later in 2020, and our prospect list and pipeline are continuously increasing. These are the clearest indications of demand for our solutions.

During the period we also began to engage directly with issuers and banks. Early insights suggest that a sizable number of consumers are willing to pay a meaningful monthly fee for biometric payment cards. We have been able to initiate fruitful engagements with multiple banks on how to profitably deploy biometric payment cards to consumers in large scale. This has strongly resonated across the payments and cards ecosystem, creating a wave of interest in what we uniquely offer to the marketplace.

Zwipe builds its competitive position on combining cost and performance leadership with our value-adding trusted advisor/systems integrator role. This combination is the cornerstone in Zwipe’s ambitions towards mass market deployments of Biometric Payment Cards and wearables.

In the second half of 2019 we streamlined costs and lasered in on core processes to achieve mass-volume market readiness for Zwipe. Our progress in recent months is proof that we are on the right path. Our technology partnership with IDEMIA has secured Zwipe world-wide, exclusive ownership to a disruptive technology platform with superior energy efficiency and excellent biometric performance, positioning Zwipe for cost- and technology leadership.

Leveraging the deep systems know-how of our organization, we are also teaming up with other component suppliers and manufacturing partners to further simplify adoption and reduce the total cost of Zwipe Pay ONE. I am excited by the results of these efforts, which secure our ability to meet the aggressive cost targets we have set for Zwipe Pay ONE. We remain on track with regards to the development of Zwipe Pay ONE, having met all significant milestones during the period. We are confident that our cost leadership strategy is enabling us to bring a very compelling offering to our customers, while laying the foundation for a sound long-term business and value creation for Zwipe as the market matures.

Thanks to the experience gained from being fully dedicated to Biometric Payment Cards from the outset, we are a trusted advisor to smart card manufacturers and card issuers, advising them on what is needed to launch Biometric Payment Cards including user experience and customer onboarding.

This comprehensive approach makes Zwipe stand-out in the crowd. Zwipe’s uniqueness is in the combination of our know-how, network, patents and technology. We make the entire process of evaluating, building, integrating, and deploying a biometric payment solution simple. We provide the components and build the inlays necessary for the smart card manufacturers. We are building an ecosystem of partners to enable card manufacturers and issuers a frictionless route to launching Biometric Payment Cards. This cooperative approach is central to supporting the growth of the overall Biometric Payment Card market, but also key to cementing Zwipe’s position and role. By giving banks and issuers, alongside our smart card manufacturing partners, a one-stop shop for the most cost effective and compelling route to launching an innovative, rapidly deployable contactless payment solution, we are building a commercial path that creates sustainable long-term value for our customers.

Cardholders and consumers around the world are demanding greater safety and security when paying for goods, and they want convenience too, which is the background for our mission of “making convenience safe and secure”. I am confident that we are on track to deliver on our mission and fulfil our pivotal role in supporting our many communities tackle the risks posed by COVID-19 at the point of sale.

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This is information that Zwipe AS is obligated to make public pursuant to the continuing obligations of companies admitted to trading on Oslo Børs Merkur Market and on Nasdaq First North Growth Market and the EU Market Abuse Regulation. Certified Adviser on Nasdaq First North is FNCA Sweden AB, info@fnca.se, +46 (0)8528 00 399. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out below, at 09:40 CET on 27 August 2020.

OSLO, NORWAY – 27 August 2020, CET 08:00 – Zwipe AS today publishes its half-year report for H1 2020.

Highlights for first half-year 2020 include:

Financials

Second Quarter

  • Second quarter revenues at TNOK 486 (241)
  • Second quarter result after tax at TNOK -15 842 (-20 989)
  • Result per share for the second quarter of NOK -0.62 (-1.32)
  • Cash flow from operations before financing at TNOK -14 789 (-22 554)

First Half Year

  • Total revenues for the first half year TNOK 880 (348)
  • Result after tax at TNOK -31 590 (-36 329)
  • Result per share for the first half year of NOK -1.23 (-2.28)
  • New equity TNOK 67 004 was raised in January 2020
  • Cash flow from operations before financing and facilitation at TNOK -42 016 (-33 971)
  • Cash and cash equivalents amounted to TNOK 43 168 on the day of closing, 30 June 2020

Significant events during the period

  • 28 Jan: Zwipe lists on Nasdaq First North Growth Market in Stockholm, Sweden
  • 25 Mar: Masria Digital Payments selects Zwipe for biometric payments
  • 08 Apr: IDEMIA, Zwipe and IDEX achieve key milestone towards next generation biometric card platform
  • 20 Apr: Zwipe and IDEX collaborate on Zwipe Pay ONE platform
  • 22 Apr: Zwipe partners with Toppan Forms Card Technologies (TFCT) on biometric payment cards
  • 23 Apr: Zwipe nominates industry leaders as new board members
  • 28 Apr: Zwipe partners with Asia Credit Card to roll out biometric payment card products and services
  • 02 Jun: Zwipe appoints new Executive Vice President Strategy & Channels
  • 08 Jun: Zwipe steps up collaboration with TFCT, with TFCT placing an order 
  • 18 Jun: Zwipe and Watchdata partner to launch next generation contactless payments
  • 29 Jun: Zwipe and Thomas Greg and Sons do Brasil renew and extend exclusive partnership

Significant actions after the period

  • 01 Jul: Zwipe and Publicenter collaborate on biometric payment solutions
  • 28 Jul: Zwipe and Liveo Research partner to enhance biometric payment card offering
  • 18 Aug: Zwipe and Smart Technology Services ramp up collaboration to industrialize Zwipe Pay ONE
  • 20 Aug: Zwipe and Wisecard join forces to drive the mass market adoption of biometric payment card

CEO comment

The first half of 2020 has been very productive, and a period marked by progress and major achievements for Zwipe. At a time when the public is particularly attuned to the benefits of social distancing, the payment ecosystem has increasingly embraced the need for secure, contactless payment technologies. COVID-19 has been a game-changer for market acceptance of the need for truly touchless payment solutions such as those offered by Zwipe.

The year began with Zwipe successfully listing on Nasdaq’s First North Growth Market in Sweden, boosting liquidity and investor awareness through access to a broader investor community.

We continued building our end-to-end ecosystem, expanding our customer network globally, forging several new strategic technical partnerships, securing important orders and extending exclusive partnerships. All of this while continuing to make progress on our previously announced key projects, Zwipe Pay ONE with IDEMIA and IDEX, and the wearables project with Giesecke+Devrient (G+D).

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has elevated the focus on safety and significantly increased the growth of contactless transactions. This, in turn has led to raised contactless transaction limits all over the world and has served to highlight the improved hygiene and safety benefits of biometric payments. During 2020, the first announcements of upcoming small-scale commercial launches of biometric payment cards to consumers have been made, proving that the industry is ready to start serving a mass market.

We believe we hold the key to the next step of broad-scale, high-volume adoption of biometric payment cards through our cooperation with IDEMIA on Zwipe Pay ONE, which will reduce manufacturing cost for biometric payment cards to a level that enables card issuers to start mass-volume deployment.

Consequently, we are doubling down our efforts to serve the market, with immediate results. As previously announced, we have an ongoing dialogue with more than 40 out of the world’s top 50 smart card manufacturers. During H1 2020 we have seen very good progress in our sales pipeline. We have announced that five new smart card manufacturers have decided to adopt Zwipe Pay ONE once it is available for early sampling, planned for later in 2020, and our prospect list and pipeline are continuously increasing. These are the clearest indications of demand for our solutions.

During the period we also began to engage directly with issuers and banks. Early insights suggest that a sizable number of consumers are willing to pay a meaningful monthly fee for biometric payment cards. We have been able to initiate fruitful engagements with multiple banks on how to profitably deploy biometric payment cards to consumers in large scale. This has strongly resonated across the payments and cards ecosystem, creating a wave of interest in what we uniquely offer to the marketplace.

Zwipe builds its competitive position on combining cost and performance leadership with our value-adding trusted advisor/systems integrator role. This combination is the cornerstone in Zwipe’s ambitions towards mass market deployments of Biometric Payment Cards and wearables.

In the second half of 2019 we streamlined costs and lasered in on core processes to achieve mass-volume market readiness for Zwipe. Our progress in recent months is proof that we are on the right path. Our technology partnership with IDEMIA has secured Zwipe world-wide, exclusive ownership to a disruptive technology platform with superior energy efficiency and excellent biometric performance, positioning Zwipe for cost- and technology leadership.

Leveraging the deep systems know-how of our organization, we are also teaming up with other component suppliers and manufacturing partners to further simplify adoption and reduce the total cost of Zwipe Pay ONE. I am excited by the results of these efforts, which secure our ability to meet the aggressive cost targets we have set for Zwipe Pay ONE. We remain on track with regards to the development of Zwipe Pay ONE, having met all significant milestones during the period. We are confident that our cost leadership strategy is enabling us to bring a very compelling offering to our customers, while laying the foundation for a sound long-term business and value creation for Zwipe as the market matures.

Thanks to the experience gained from being fully dedicated to Biometric Payment Cards from the outset, we are a trusted advisor to smart card manufacturers and card issuers, advising them on what is needed to launch Biometric Payment Cards including user experience and customer onboarding.

This comprehensive approach makes Zwipe stand-out in the crowd. Zwipe’s uniqueness is in the combination of our know-how, network, patents and technology. We make the entire process of evaluating, building, integrating, and deploying a biometric payment solution simple. We provide the components and build the inlays necessary for the smart card manufacturers. We are building an ecosystem of partners to enable card manufacturers and issuers a frictionless route to launching Biometric Payment Cards. This cooperative approach is central to supporting the growth of the overall Biometric Payment Card market, but also key to cementing Zwipe’s position and role. By giving banks and issuers, alongside our smart card manufacturing partners, a one-stop shop for the most cost effective and compelling route to launching an innovative, rapidly deployable contactless payment solution, we are building a commercial path that creates sustainable long-term value for our customers.

Cardholders and consumers around the world are demanding greater safety and security when paying for goods, and they want convenience too, which is the background for our mission of “making convenience safe and secure”. I am confident that we are on track to deliver on our mission and fulfil our pivotal role in supporting our many communities tackle the risks posed by COVID-19 at the point of sale.

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This is information that Zwipe AS is obligated to make public pursuant to the continuing obligations of companies admitted to trading on Oslo Børs Merkur Market and on Nasdaq First North Growth Market. Certified Adviser on Nasdaq First North is FNCA Sweden AB, info@fnca.se, +46 (0)8528 00 399. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out below, at 08:00 CET on 27 August 2020.

OSLO, NORWAY– August 20th, 2020 Biometric fintech company Zwipe and Wisecard Technology, a leading supplier of EMV personalization and payment solutions, have partnered to support the industrialization of biometric payments solutions.                                                                                                

Headquartered in Shenzhen, China, Wisecard Technology Ltd. specializes in personalization software development, primarily focusing on the smart card payment industry. As a leading provider of EMV personalization services, the company will support the co-development of personalization offerings for the Zwipe Pay family of products and solutions.

“We are excited to work closely with Zwipe to tap into the huge potential we see for biometrics in the payments market. Zwipe has led the way in establishing a global network of partners to make the launch of biometric payment cards and wearables at scale as effortless and cost-effective as possible. We are keen to support this mission and bring safer and more secure payment options to consumers around the world,” says, Kevin Yi, Vice President at Wisecard.

Smart card manufacturers will benefit from the collaboration by having access to a validated and proven personalization process for their biometric payment cards powered by Zwipe technology.

Speaking on the partnership André Løvestam, CEO of Zwipe, says “We are excited to partner with Wisecard as we continue to expand our ecosystem and our capacity to provide the most comprehensive and compelling offerings within biometric payments to smart card manufacturers and issuers, further cementing the value-add we bring to our customers.”

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About Wisecard Technology

Wisecard Technology Co , Ltd. is a solution provider for smart card issuance and innovative payment platforms with more cost effective and user friendly features. Wisecard has invested heavily on technological innovation and product development. This has resulted in the creation of leading solutions in the area of Card Management and   Personalization, payment systems, which have been compliant with the regulations from international payment schemes. Wisecard has always had a strong customer service focus and built leading edge professional services organization, delivering high class product and process support around the world. After a decade of providing cost-effective, innovative and vendor independent solutions that enable customers to improve their operational processes, Wisecard has successfully deployed solutions in more than 60 countries throughout Europe, Africa, Middle East, Southeast Asia and South America.

To learn more, please visit www.wisecardtech.com

For more information contact: Kevin Yi, Vice President, + 86 755 86007346   sales@wisecardtech.com

OSLO, NORWAY– 18 August 2020 Biometric fintech company Zwipe and Smart Technology Services (STS), one of the world’s first equipment manufacturers to develop a biometric payment card milling and embedding enabled system, have expanded their previously announced partnership to support the industrialization of dual interface biometric payment cards using Zwipe Pay ONE platform.                                               

Headquartered in France, STS is a leading player in the development of industrial manufacturing equipment specifically for the production and personalization of smart cards. The two companies have jointly developed integrated solutions that will enable Smart Card Manufacturers (SCMs) to achieve a risk-free and agile industrialization of biometric payment cards.

“Zwipe has been one of the leaders in the development of biometric payment platforms while we have developed manufacturing processes to enable SCMs to successfully reach a true volume offer capability for such cards. We have worked very closely together over the last year to fine-tune our complementary offering in order to support smart card manufacturers as they adopt and begin to roll out cards based on the Zwipe Pay ONE platform,” said Thierry Buisson, CEO of STS, speaking on the ramping up of activities.

“Our expanded partnership with STS has mitigated project risks and reduced the capital expenditure needed to enable the production of biometric payment cards. This will further strengthen our respective positions in the market and accelerate the adoption of biometric payment cards,” said André Løvestam, CEO of Zwipe.

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About Smart Technology Services

Founded in 2013 in France, Smart Technology Services provides high level support services and card personalization solutions to card manufacturers and bureaus worldwide. The company provides services support activities for card central issuance systems and secondhand systems It also supplies the Smart Evol 1000 – a fully modular mid-range card personalization system, and the SI20 and SI700 – versatile card production systems for contact, dual interface, and biometric cards.

Please visit http://stservices.fr for further information

OSLO, NORWAY– 28 JULY 2020  Biometric fintech company Zwipe and Liveo Research, a major supplier of PVC materials to some of the world’s largest card manufacturers, have partnered to offer a highly optimized route to efficient and scalable manufacturing of biometric payment cards. This is key in supporting the ongoing industrialization of the Zwipe Pay family of products.

Liveo Research is a global manufacturer of rigid packaging solutions focusing on pharma packaging innovations, specialty films and card solutions. With around 1,100 employees across five locations worldwide, Liveo is generating annual sales of more than 350 million euros.

“We are excited to collaborate with Zwipe, a pioneer in the field of biometric payment cards, to promote and roll out the Zwipe Pay ONE platform that will radically reduce the cost and complexity associated with card production process”, says Managing Director at Liveo Research, Mr. Pietro Parmeggiani.

Speaking on the partnership André Løvestam, CEO of Zwipe says, “This showcases how Zwipe is leveraging the payment ecosystem’s key players to enable best-in-class solutions and grow the biometric payment card segment. Liveo Research is a strong stakeholder and working together we will be able to further strengthen the value proposition to smart card manufacturers.”

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About Liveo Research

Since 1953 Liveo Research’s Castiglione facility has been at the forefront of technological innovation in vinyl calendaring. Decades of commitment to manufacturing quality and enhanced rigid films properties has given Liveo’s card manufacturers the extra edge to easily move into new niche market with even newer technological requirement. Today, Liveo’s SICO films are sought after for high quality secure payment cards, e-government, IoT SIM/GSM, M2M, access controls cards, where they withstand daily handling while maintaining a pristine appearance and data integrity. Liveo Research SICO films are available globally with two primary manufacturing sites, Castiglione, Italy, where it all began and, Delaware City, DE, USA. To learn more, visit www.liveoresearch.com

For more information contact: cs.eu@liveo-research.com

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