OSLO, NORWAY – 7 MAY 2020 –
Q1 2020 Highlights
Developments after the period
CEO Comment
André Løvestam, Chief Executive Officer at Zwipe, said:
“Q1 2020 has been an intense quarter for Zwipe.
We started the year by listing on the Nasdaq First North Growth Market on January 28th, and have seen considerable interest in Zwipe across the Swedish investment community.
This quarter has also been marked by unprecedented global uncertainty tied to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. With the aim to protect our employees from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Zwipe quickly adapted with various protective measures such as remote work and travel bans. We have been able to continue operating remotely, with little to no impact being seen across our operations. Our commercial team has ramped up activity and been able to engage more frequently and openly as a result of the entire industry transitioning to videoconferencing as opposed to travel-intensive face-to-face meetings.
We observe an extensive focus on and interest in the improved hygiene and safety of biometric payment solutions; the awareness of biometric advantages is significantly higher than pre-Corona. This elevated focus on safety has significantly increased the growth of contactless transactions, and transaction caps have been raised all over the world1. Hygiene may become an accelerator and game-changer for biometric payments. A biometric payment card effectively eliminates the need to ever touch the payment terminal keypad – regular cards require PIN above the transaction limit, after a set number of transactions, and when the cumulative value of transactions has reached its limit.
We are seeing growing momentum across the payment ecosystem with increasing investment in supporting biometric payment card deployment. Zwipe is now working closely with partners across the value chain in developing a highly competitive offering in terms of energy efficiency and biometric performance at industry-leading manufacturing costs; Zwipe Pay ONE. This next generation contactless technology will achieve a radically lower total manufacturing cost per card, which we believe will be key to accelerate the volume market take-off. Therefore, we are proud and satisfied that the Zwipe Pay ONE project and the collaboration with Idemia and Idex is on track, as announced in April. The first samples of the new single chip have been manufactured and successfully powered-on. This development is very positive as our customers wish to get access to Zwipe Pay ONE as early as possible to be able to serve card issuers with the market’s most cost-effective biometric payment cards.
Recent certification industry announcements bring further confidence to the trajectory of biometric payment card rollout. Certification of payment products is a rigorous and capital-intensive process for card manufacturers and a strong signal of intent to capitalize on the next natural step for payment cards, following the introduction of dual-interface payment cards in 2007.
I am also satisfied with the very good progress in the wearable project announced with G+D in September, as this project is also on track.
Looking ahead, we are committed to supporting our customers to elevate their product portfolios by making it easy to integrate biometric payment solutions. Key to this work is technical deliverables and sharing the expertise we have built from having the most widely piloted solution to position, educate and market biometric payment cards to banks and issuers. We are doing everything in our power to build and maintain strong relationships with our industry-leading partners that will create sustainable long-term commercial opportunities for themselves and Zwipe going forward.”
Financial Update
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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, Nasdaq First North Growth Market and the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out below, on May 7, 2020 at 08:30 CEST
OSLO, NORWAY – 28 APRIL 2020 – Biometric fintech company Zwipe is pleased to announce that Asia Credit Card Production Ltd. (ACC), a specialist smart card manufacturer based in Hong Kong, has chosen to partner with Zwipe in order to offer and roll out a range of biometric payment specific products and services including cards, wearables, enrolment and customer onboarding solutions.
ACC has an extensive smart card product portfolio with a large client base in a wide range of industries worldwide. ACC has begun integrating Zwipe’s biometric inlay platform into their smart card production facility in order to prepare for the launch of Zwipe Pay ONE when it becomes available later this year.
“We strongly believe that biometric payment cards are the future and there is a strong market for payment cards in the fast-moving Asia Pacific region even in the face of surging smartphone use. Working now to integrate Zwipe’s technology, we are confident that we will have a truly disruptive offering that will enable us to significantly grow our banking customer base in the region and beyond,” said Gary Li, Managing Director of Asia Credit Card Production Ltd.
As an essential manufacturer in the heart of APAC, ACC is now working at full capacity. On the back of their commitment to issuing biometric payment cards this year, the company is in the process of completing the application process for full card scheme certification to expand its portfolio of offerings to leading issuers across the region.
“We continue to build our global portfolio of customer relationships, which will be instrumental in the roll-out of future products. The partnership with ACC will further broaden our access to the Asian markets,” said André Løvestam, CEO of Zwipe.
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About Asia Credit Card Production LTD
ACC is a leading professional RFID card and smart card manufacturer. Headquartered in Hong Kong and production plant in Shenzhen, China. With over 20 years of experience in card industry, ACC is offering top quality products and services compliant to industry standards and customer requirements. We continuously strengthen partnerships with our strategic alliances and industry leaders to fulfill our commitment to the industry.
For more information contact: James Duran, +852 2389 3393 james@asia-cc.com.hk
OSLO, NORWAY– 23 APRIL 2020 – The Nomination Committee of Zwipe AS has proposed the nomination of two leading payment and technology professionals to its board of directors to be voted upon at its upcoming Annual General Meeting to be held virtually on 14 May 2020.
Mr. Diderik Schonheyder is a recognized authority on payment products, services and systems development with more than 35 years’ experience as an executive, advisor and investor in the information technology and telecommunications industry. He previously served in global roles at Visa International and MasterCard, and currently operates a consultancy company focused on payment ecosystems.
Mr. Pål Eivind Vegard is a seasoned entrepreneur, investor, and board member who has been active for over three decades in the telecommunications and software industries in Europe. He established Tele1 Europe in Norway in 1998 before going on to fund several companies. Through his investment company, Concito, he was one of the early backers of Zwipe and he served on Zwipe’s board from 2011 to 2016. He was also an early investor and chairman of the board in Onecall, today a successful mobile brand owned by Telia.
In addition to Diderik Schonheyder and Pål Eivind Vegard, the Nomination Committee proposes that Dorian Barak, Johan Biehl, Dennis Jones and Jörgen Lantto (Chairman) are re-elected as Directors of the Board.
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OSLO, NORWAY– 22 April 2020 – Biometric fintech company Zwipe is pleased to announce that it has signed an agreement with Toppan Forms Card Technologies Limited, the strongest local card manufacturer in the Hong Kong and Macau region, to collaborate on the product positioning, development and commercialization of biometric payment cards.
Toppan Forms Card Technologies Limited has an extensive customer network with the large banks in Hong Kong and Macau, offering a wide range of data management and card solutions. The company is an authorized VISA, MasterCard, China UnionPay, JCB and AMEX card manufacturer in Hong Kong. Using the strengths it has obtained in the data management area, the company is working to create new value as a digital hybrid company that is able to provide products and services with security elements.
“Biometric payment cards can be a lucrative product for us considering the types of banks we have as customers, with many high net worth clients. We are eager to integrate Zwipe’s technology including Zwipe Pay ONE, providing a premium status product which strengthens the contactless payment experience enabling more secure and convenient options for cardholders thanks to its enhanced biometric features,” said Mr. Joseph Hui, Deputy Managing Director of Toppan Forms Card Technologies Limited.
“Our collaboration with Toppan Forms Card Technologies Limited is another important step for Zwipe as we prepare to roll out our Zwipe Pay ONE platform. Working with strong local players connected to leading issuers in their markets will be instrumental in enabling the scaling of our offering going forward,” said André Løvestam, CEO of Zwipe.
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About Toppan Forms Card Technologies Limited.
Toppan Forms (Hong Kong) Group founded Toppan Forms Card Technologies Limited (TFCT) in 1982 as its first step of diversification in becoming a trusted total service provider. We provide a variety of card solutions, card issuance systems and services for the ever-expanding IT market. In light of our company mission to be an innovation frontier, the company enriches the integrated IT solutions offering in terms of Robotic Solutions, Access Control and e-Application. The company is working to create new value as a Digital Hybrid Company that is able to provide products and services from both the analog and digital aspects. To visit our website www.toppanforms.com
For more information, please contact us +852 2519 6388 contact@toppanforms.com
OSLO, NORWAY – 20 April 2020 – Zwipe, a leading biometric fintech company, and IDEX Biometrics, a leading provider of fingerprint identification technologies, announce that they have signed an agreement that will see Zwipe combining IDEX Biometrics sensor products with the Zwipe Pay ONE platform to enable a complete system solution for biometric payment cards.
Zwipe Pay ONE is a technology platform based on a single-chip biometric secure element with operating system and relevant proprietary software. The result will be a compelling biometric payment card offering to card manufacturers in the global market.
The two companies also plan to formalize cross-licensing of intellectual property and a joint marketing approach as Zwipe Pay ONE with IDEX sensor becomes available for piloting.
“We are excited to work closely with Zwipe, a pioneer in the biometric payment card market. We believe the combination of Zwipe Pay ONE with IDEX next generation sensor has strong potential to become a market leading solution. IDEX is providing fingerprint sensors and technical expertise towards the shared goal of accelerating adoption of biometric payment cards,” said Vincent Graziani, CEO of IDEX Biometrics.
“IDEX Biometrics has developed a next-generation fingerprint sensor. We are ideally positioned to take a leading position in the biometric payments market, providing smart card manufacturers with a superior offering in terms of energy efficiency and biometric performance at industry-leading manufacturing costs", said André Løvestam, CEO of Zwipe.
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COURBEVOIE, FRANCE and OSLO, NORWAY– 08 April 2020 –
Following the exclusive partnership and distribution agreement signed between IDEMIA and ZWIPE, the two companies announce that first samples of the new chip have now arrived for further verification and qualification with the first power-on successfully executed. Therefore, the new platform will now progress to the next stages of developments and will be able to meet expected demand from card issuers with a first launch on the market as from second half 2020 followed by a mass production of biometric cards during 2021. IDEMIA and IDEX have signed an agreement by which IDEX will supply the card’s sensors for this next generation of biometric payment cards. This agreement deepens a long-standing collaboration between IDEMIA and IDEX to develop biometric payment cards including an IP licensing agreement signed in Oct 20193. By teaming up with ZWIPE and IDEX to offer a disruptive biometric payment card platform that will radically reduce biometric payment card costs, IDEMIA is driving the growth of the biometric cards market and enables an accelerated path to mass volumes, which will ultimately benefit the issuers and users of cards.
Amanda Gourbault, IDEMIA Executive Vice President Financial Institutions says: “This achievement of this key milestone demonstrates that our next F.CODE generation biometric card development is being executed according to plan allowing a pilot launch second half 2020. Together with our business partners we are showcasing our best-in-class expertise in designing and manufacturing biometric-based payment cards”.
André Løvestam, CEO of ZWIPE says: ”We are pleased to see this progress and we strongly believe that bringing forward the new platform together with IDEMIA will be a major catalyst in creating long term shareholder value and provide the technological leap needed to shape the future of the biometric payment card market and to drive commercial success for ZWIPE. The progress up until now has further strengthened our conviction that this project will meet not only the time schedule, but also the targeted unit cost reductions on biometric payment cards.”
Vince Graziani, CEO of IDEX commented: “We are proud to have been selected by IDEMIA and look forward to continue collaboration with this leader in authentication solutions, and to initiate collaboration with ZWIPE to bring biometric payment cards to the mass market. This award by one of the world’s largest card manufacturers is a validation of our off-chip product design that enables high performance at a disruptive cost point.”
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2: manufacturers of payment cards, wearables and other payment solutions, and their suppliers.
OSLO, NORWAY – 25 March 2020 – Biometric technology company Zwipe is pleased to announce that it has been selected by Masria Digital Payments (MDP), one of the largest smart card manufacturers and digital payments providers in the Middle East and Africa to deliver biometric payments solutions to enhance MDP’s innovation product portfolio.
Zwipe will support MDP in integrating and rolling out biometric payment cards and eventually biometric enabled wearable devices to a region that has expressed significant interest in the technology.
“To continue MDP’s long tradition of technology leadership, we are integrating Zwipe’s current biometric payment platform now to educate the market and get prepared for Zwipe Pay ONE. We are confident that, when that becomes available, we will have banks across the region ready to take the next natural step in payment cards with us”, says Ahmed Nafie, EVP of MDP.
The Middle East and North Africa is seeing great interest in biometric payment solutions, especially biometric payment cards.
“Zwipe is thrilled to win a new strategic customer wanting to pilot our current product platform to pave the way for early deployment of our future offering, Zwipe Pay ONE. Working together we can unlock many opportunities in a part of the world that is proving to be a first mover when it comes to biometric payments” says André Løvestam, CEO of Zwipe.
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About MDP
Masria Digital Payments (previously Masria Card S.A.E) is Africa's leading smart card solutions provider with a regional presence spanning 35 countries and 3 continents. Building on its vast sector experience, MDP has consistently introduced the latest technology in cards, payment security and smart applications to the Middle East and African markets. MDP also provides its partners with a complete card offering ranging from card production, personalization, issuance and fulfilment as a service or as a solution. MDP is the only end to end fully certified African payments solutions provider to offer a full card services, solutions, processing and digital payment suites to clients in the financial, government and retail sector under one roof.
For more information, please visit www.mdp-eg.com/
OSLO, NORWAY - 18 March 2020 - Zwipe’s CEO André Løvestam presented Zwipe at a RedEye Investor event in Sweden on 12 March 2020 where he addressed the ongoing global Covid-19 situation and its impact on the company’s operations: “To address the escalating situation regarding the Corona virus, it is important to acknowledge the global impact it is having. However, we want to stress that Zwipe carries on. We are a lean global team committed to our targets and, as we have done before, we are adapting quickly and effectively to the changing environment we operate in. Projects are ongoing, we have suspended travel, we are doing more video conferencing and ultimately continuing to do business as best we can in the face of this new adversity.”
The Zwipe team spans across Europe, the United States and Asia with more than 25% working permanently from home offices. The company has moved quickly to enact travel bans and new working standards enabling our staff to work from home offices as of 13 March 2020.
Commenting on the company and its plan to work through the current global situation, André Løvestam said “we are committed to the safety and security of our team members and their families and we are monitoring the situation closely. Some of our partners in China and Europe have been impacted, however, most of our ongoing efforts are not impeded by the current situation and we are confident that we will be able to weather the current downturn and look forward to share progress as we go forward.”
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OSLO, NORWAY – 28 February 2020 – Zwipe AS today publishes its half-year financial report for 2H 2019.
The report does not contain inside information. Zwipe’s audited Annual Report 2019 was released on 26 February 2020.
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The Board of Directors of Zwipe AS, org. nr 994 553 607, has on November 10, 2019, subject to the approval by an Extraordinary General Meeting, decided to carry out a preferential rights issue of up to MNOK 74 by issuing up to 10 635 525 shares, implying an increase of the Company’s share capital of up to NOK 1 063 553.
90 percent of the Rights Issue, amounting to MNOK 67, is already covered through subscription commitments and underwriting commitments from current shareholders and new investors.
Background and purpose
During 2019 Zwipe has made significant technological, commercial and organizational progress. Most notably, Zwipe entered a strategic collaboration with Idemia on a disruptive technology platform for biometric payments. Furthermore, Zwipe successfully completed the prototyping of its in-house Z5 energy harvesting and power management chip, extended its network of card manufacturer clients, delivered according to its first received order for its second generation inlay technology, and was engaged by G+D Mobile Security to provide product design and prototyping for a wearable biometric payment device to be piloted by a leading bank.
The preferential rights issue is carried out in order to secure working capital toward commercialization and scale-up of Zwipe’s technology platform. The commercialization efforts will be accompanied by a targeted program to focus and streamline the company’s resources.
CEO André Løvestam commented “This rights issue is planned to extend Zwipe’s financial runway all the way to scale-up of biometric cards, and I am pleased that we have achieved a 90% guaranteed subscription. We now see a clear path toward finalizing and commercializing our technology, with the required capital resources to get to that point.
Zwipe is streamlining its product roadmap and pursuing cost saving opportunities that will reduce the current burn-rate. This has been made possible on the back of the strategic collaboration with Idemia, the global leader in Augmented Identity and one of the world’s largest payment card manufacturers, on a disruptive technology platform that we together with our partner Idemia believe is a game changer and a catalyst for growth in the industry. The new platform will integrate and simplify component design, drastically reducing costs of the product itself and the manufacturing process. As a result, a complete biometric payment card cost of below USD 10 is becoming realistic, providing an accelerated path to mass volumes while giving Zwipe a long-term cost leadership position.”
Summary of Rights Issue
The subscription price is NOK 7.00 per share. The Company’s shareholders have preferential rights to subscribe to the new shares in relation to the number of shares currently held. For each recorded share the shareholder obtains one (1) subscription right. Three (3) subscription rights entitle to subscription of two (2) newly issued shares.
The Record Date for participation in the Rights Issue is planned for December 4, 2019. The subscription period is expected to run from December 5 up to and including December 19, 2019. The Board of Directors shall have the right to extend the subscription period if deemed beneficial. In the event that not all shares have been subscribed for in the Rights Issue, the Board of Directors, within the maximum scope of the Rights Issue, resolve on the allocation of shares subscribed for without subscription rights.
The Company has obtained subscription commitments and undertaking commitments from a number of current shareholders and external investors. The subscription commitments from existing shareholders, and external investors who will receive subscription rights from major shareholders who cannot participate, amount to 16.1 percent of the Rights Issue. Underwriting commitments amount to an additional 73.9 percent of the Rights Issue. In total, the subscription commitments and underwriting commitments from current shareholders and new investors amount to MNOK 67.0, corresponding to 90.0 percent of the Rights Issue.
Timetable for the Rights Issue
The below timetable for the Rights Issue is preliminary and may be adjusted:
Prospectus
Complete information regarding the Rights Issue and information about the Company will be included in the prospectus that is expected to be published on or about December 4, 2019.
Extraordinary General Meeting
To obtain approval to carry out the Rights Issue, the Board of Directors has decided to call for an extraordinary general meeting. The extraordinary general meeting is to be held on December 2, 2019 at 11:30 at the office of Simonsen Vogt Wiig Advokatfirma, Filipstad Brygge 1, Oslo. The notice of the meeting will be published today through a separate press release.
For further information please contact:
André Løvestam, CEO: andre@zwipe.com +47 93 43 69 52
Lars Myren, Interim CFO: lars@zwipe.com +47 90 94 36 60
Advisors
In connection with the Rights Issue, Zwipe has appointed Erik Penser Bank AB (publ) as book runner, and Advokatfirmaet Simonsen Vogt Wiig AS as legal advisor.
For more information, please visit www.zwipe.com
Important information
The information in this press release does not constitute an offer to sell, acquire, subscribe for or otherwise trade in shares or other securities issued by Zwipe AS. No offer will be made in any jurisdiction in which such offer or solicitation is unlawful or where this would require registration, publication of a prospectus or similar action. Invitation to interested parties to subscribe for shares in Zwipe AS will only be made through the prospectus that Zwipe AS will publish.
There will be no public offer of shares in the United States. The new shares have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “U.S. Securities Act”), or under the securities law of any state or other jurisdiction of the United States and may not be reoffered, resold, pledged or otherwise transferred, directly or indirectly, except (a) outside the United States in accordance with Rule 903 or Rule 904 of Regulation S, as applicable or (b) pursuant to Rule 144A under the U.S. Securities Act by executing and delivering a separate U.S. investor representation letter to the manager. A person in the United States or who is a “U.S. Person” (within the meaning of Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act), may not apply for Offer Shares or otherwise take steps in order to subscribe for or purchase Offer Shares unless the subscriber has confirmed to the manager that it is a "qualified institutional buyer" ("QIB") as defined in Rule 144A under the U.S. Securities Act, acquiring the Offer Shares for investments purposes for its own account or for one or more accounts of another/other QIB(s), where it has investment discretion over such accounts in a transaction exempt from the registration requirements under the U.S. Securities Act by executing and delivering a U.S. investor representation letter to the manager. The Offer Shares are “restricted securities” within the meaning of Rule 144(a)(3) under the U.S. Securities Act and may not be deposited into any unrestricted depositary receipt facility in the United States, unless at the time of deposit the Offer Shares are no longer "restricted securities".
The information in this press release may not be released, published, reproduced or distributed in or to the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Singapore, South Africa or New Zealand or any other country or jurisdiction where such action is not permitted or where such action is subject to legal restrictions or would require further registration or other measures than what is required by Norwegian and / or Swedish law. Measures contrary to this instruction may constitute a breach of applicable securities legislation.
OSLO, NORWAY – 6 November 2019
Q3 2019 highlights and recent developments
During the third quarter Zwipe focused on extending its technology portfolio and network of partners covering the biometric payment card and wearables value chain:
Status update from the CEO
André Løvestam, CEO of Zwipe said ”Q3 2019 exceeded our expectations and we are happy with the major milestones we have completed over the last months. The announced collaboration with Idemia on a disruptive technology platform for biometric payments represents a defining moment for Zwipe. The new biometric payments platform will drastically reduce product and manufacturing costs by integrating into a single chip the functions that previously required a Secure Element, a Microcontroller, and more than thirty external components. This enables Zwipe to take a strong cost leadership position and gain competitive advantage as the industry moves towards large-scale volumes.
In parallel, we are forging ahead with our internal research and development activities and have expanded our intellectual property (IP) portfolio. In the period, our in-house IP development has progressed well. Zwipe now has 31 granted patents across 10 patent families in its IP portfolio, representing significant licensing revenue potential for the company going forward. Immediately after the closing of Q3, we announced the successful completion of a two-year development project: a working prototype of our Z5 chip which we plan to commercialize to stakeholders across the payments ecosystem, both as a stand-alone chip and as part of our biometric payment platform, the biometric inlay.
We have complemented our products with services. At the end of the quarter, Zwipe introduced the “Zwipe Experience” to its customers – a comprehensive program of products and services, enabling the card manufacturers to prepare for all aspects of launching biometric payment cards.
With product development taking positive strides, we have also continued expanding our network of customers. In Q3 we added Thailand-based card manufacturer dz card to our already substantial global customer network. Dz card plans to launch biometric payment solutions to address the emerging needs of customers in Thailand and across Southeast Asia, a region poised to see exponential growth in payment card adoption over the coming years.
Beyond dual-interface payment cards, we are pursuing complementary payment solutions where our technology represents a competitive advantage for our customers. During the quarter, we announced that we had been engaged by G+D Mobile Security, one of the world’s largest players within security solutions, to provide product design and prototyping for a wearable biometric payment device to be piloted by a leading bank.
With good momentum in these two emerging product verticals, we are confident that our focus on building relationships with our customers will play a major role in securing both short- and long-term success for the company. The new relationships diversify our customer base and extend our geographical presence, securing ties with regional leading card manufacturers and banks. Industry leaders in the biometric payment industry such as Idemia and G&D are firming up their roles, setting up commercial structures and investing in trial and production capacity. The fact that they select Zwipe as a key partner for their endeavours is a testament to our strong role in the value-chain.
It is exciting for us to see that our future potential is materializing in near-term commercial opportunities. Our initial sales of biometric card inlays, and customer-funded engineering efforts are opening doors for greater opportunities going forward. I am delighted to see that the steps we have taken are starting to bear fruit.”
Financials and Significant Events During Third Quarter 2019
Financial Status
During the third quarter Zwipe had revenues of MNOK 1.0 (0.9) representing sale of products for trial purposes as well as NRE invoiced to certain customers for specific developments. Accumulated revenues for the year amount to MNOK 1.3 (1.6).
Average monthly cash flow during Q3 2019 was MNOK -7.6 (-5.6), compared to MNOK -8.9 in the first half of 2019. The closing cash balance at end of Q3 was MNOK 51.0.
Subsequent event: Completed prototype Zwipe Z5 chip
After closing of the third quarter, Zwipe announced the successful prototype completion and power-on of its in-house developed “Z5” energy harvesting and power management integrated circuit (ASIC). The proprietary new chip is a significant milestone in component consolidation, cost reduction and efficiency improvement for Zwipe. Commercial samples are planned to be ready by mid-2020, by which time mass production can start. The Z5 chip will precede and subsequently complement the emerging biometric payment technology platform announced with Idemia.
OSLO, NORWAY – 14 OCTOBER 2019 – Biometric technology company Zwipe is pleased to announce the prototype manufacturing and successful power-on of its Z5 chip, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) developed by Zwipe and supported by proprietary energy harvesting IP.
The Zwipe Z5 consolidates components required for contactless energy harvesting and power management in one chip, reducing cost and improving the power efficiency and the manufacturability of embedded biometric solutions. This proprietary embedded chip will be a key commercial element for Zwipe’s biometric products for payment and beyond.
Commenting on this important breakthrough, André Løvestam CEO of Zwipe said, “this is an important milestone for the company, and a key part of Zwipe’s Generation NxT initiative focusing on cost reduction and supply-chain readiness to improve our competitiveness and facilitate our go-to-market and scale-up capacity. Over the coming months, Zwipe will complete verification and qualification. Commercial samples are planned for release mid-2020, at that stage mass production can start.”
The Zwipe Z5 chip will be sold as a single component and as part of Zwipe’s embedded system, the biometric inlay. Target customers are smart card and wearables manufacturers as well as original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the emerging biometric payment market and in other verticals.
The development of this component is partially funded through a EUR 2.3 million (NOK 23 million) grant from the European Commission as part of Horizon 2020.
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OSLO, NORWAY– 27 SEPTEMBER 2019 – Biometric technology company Zwipe has today delivered the first order of its second-generation biometric inlay to one of its card manufacturing customers. The order was for a few thousand units and generates revenue of approximately half a million NOK in the third quarter 2019.
“Zwipe’s biometric payment platform is the most widely live-tested solution in the marketplace and it has been progressively updated in terms of performance and cost. We are now starting to provide our second-generation biometric platform and inlay technology to our customers. We are supporting our customers toward achieving a mass-marketable roll-out of their biometric payment cards” says André Løvestam, CEO at Zwipe.
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Courbevoie, FRANCE and Oslo, NORWAY – 19 September 2019 – IDEMIA, the global leader in Augmented Identity and one of the world’s largest biometric payment card manufacturers, and Zwipe, a leading biometric technology company, have signed an exclusive partnership and distribution agreement that sees the two companies co-investing in the development of a disruptive biometric payment card platform. The companies’ shared vision is to enable mass volume market take-off and long-term growth for biometric payment cards, by bringing to market a technology platform that will significantly reduce the complexity and cost of the design and production process for biometric payment cards, enabling an accelerated path to mass volumes which will ultimately benefit the issuers and users of cards.
This result is achieved by drastically reducing the number of components, integrating in a single chip the functions that previously required a Secure Element, a Microcontroller, and more than thirty external components, all mounted on a flexible PCB (Printed Circuit Board). Cards incorporating this new technology will be in the market in H2 2020, with high volume deployment starting in 2021.
Speaking on the agreement, Amanda Gourbault, Executive Vice-President for Financial institutions activities at IDEMIA, declared: “this is a strategic, high profile project for IDEMIA. We are very excited about what this platform will enable in terms of market growth and the penetration of biometric payment cards. IDEMIA is delighted to partner with Zwipe, a company with a solid intellectual property portfolio and an expanding global customer network; we are confident that our new solution will command a leading position in the marketplace.”
Zwipe will have worldwide exclusive rights to provide this solution to manufacturers of payment cards, wearables and other payment solutions, and their suppliers, when the product becomes available. IDEMIA has ownership of this technology and will sell F.CODE to its Financial Institutions customers. Once again, by bringing the best of its technology and vision, IDEMIA is driving the growth of the biometric cards market.
Commenting on this major development, André Løvestam, CEO of Zwipe said “we are excited and proud to enter a significant partnership with IDEMIA, a prominent global industry leader. The platform represents a technological leap that will serve as a catalyst to enable full biometric payment card costs to come down significantly, driving mass volume market growth and complementing our current and future product portfolios. We look forward to bringing this platform to our customers to continue to shape the biometric payments industry.”
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OSLO, NORWAY– 17 SEPTEMBER 2019 – Biometric technology company Zwipe has been selected by Giesecke + Devrient (G+D) Mobile Security, one of the world’s largest mobile and digital security providers to develop a biometric payment device with a view to pilot this technology with leading banks.
Speaking on the partnership with Zwipe, Gabrielle Bugat, Group Senior Vice President and Head of Business Unit Financial Services at G+D Mobile Security, said “We have selected Zwipe because of their proven ability to integrate biometrics with payment functionalities into an extremely space and energy-constrained environment,” adding “we are confident that this joint effort will help establish new opportunities in the emerging biometric payments marketplace.”
Zwipe will provide the technical design and core components for integration into a wearable device with the digital security provider integrating the payment platform and personalising the product for use as a payment solution.
Commenting on this commercial effort, André Løvestam, CEO of Zwipe said “Our new customer, G+D is one of the world’s largest players in security solutions and we are excited to launch this collaboration.”
The joint development is commencing now, and the two parties plan to announce the start of any pilot when the product is ready for trials.
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BANGKOK, THAILAND – 11 SEPTEMBER 2019 – Biometric technology company Zwipe and dz card a global card solution provider and one of the largest card manufacturers in Southeast Asia, have signed a partnership to launch biometric payment solutions addressing the emerging needs of customers in Thailand and across Southeast Asia, as well as India and Africa.
Speaking on the engagement, Mr. Renaud ADAM – CEO of dz card said, “we have received requests from several large issuers seeking biometric payment cards and we are excited to partner with Zwipe, who is uniquely positioned to support our customers in introducing, optimizing and scaling up the issuance of this innovative product which makes contactless payment so much more secure.”
dz card will look to integrate Zwipe’s technology platform in bringing their biometric payment cards and other associated solutions to market, featuring Zwipe’s proprietary biometric payment platform and secure at-home enrolment offering.
Commenting on this latest customer acquisition André Løvestam, CEO of Zwipe said, “we are honored that dz card decided to join our growing customer base and we are confident that our unique and dedicated approach to support them in launching biometric payment cards will be a win for their customers, some of the largest financial institutions in Southeast Asia.”
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OSLO, NORWAY – 3 September 2019- Biometric technology company Zwipe will explore a potential listing on Nasdaq Stockholm's First North Growth Market. The timing of such a listing remains to be evaluated.
Commenting on this development, CEO of Zwipe André Løvestam said “the past several months has seen major stakeholders in the emerging biometric payment market invest in preparations for commercialization of biometric payment cards and accompanying offerings. This vote of confidence and positive outlook has enabled several new strategic opportunities for Zwipe that are currently being pursued. On this basis, the Board of Directors has concluded an intent to list on Nasdaq Stockholm's First North Growth Market”, adding “listing on Nasdaq First North Growth Market will take the company closer to the majority of its investors and open up a larger and more dynamic trading market for its shares.”
Please see Zwipe’s Interim Report January to June 2019 on the company’s website, www.zwipe.com for more information about the company’s status and outlook.
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Oslo, Norway - 3 September 2019
Biometric technology company Zwipe today announces its Interim Report January to June 2019:
First Half Year
Significant events during the period
Significant events after the period
CEO comment
André Løvestam, Chief Executive Officer at Zwipe, said “Zwipe had significant progress during the first half of 2019. During the period we added five new card manufacturing customers across the world, significantly broadening our customer base. At the same time, multiple pilots with existing customers, banks and payment networks, have provided strong results and given us unique insights as we progress towards commercial adoption of our offerings.
Over the course of this summer, accredited third-party labs used for validation by the major payment networks have confirmed that Zwipe’s platform is comfortably surpassing the biometric performance, security and interoperability requirements for certification to be awarded to card manufacturers.
During the first half of 2019 multiple card manufacturers have started the capital-intensive process of launching biometric payment card specific manufacturing lines, semiconductor providers have begun the development of dedicated offerings for this emerging market, and the entire value chain supporting these processes has started moving more aggressively.
This vote of confidence of the future prospects in biometric payment cards and wearables has opened up several new strategic opportunities for Zwipe; opportunities that we are now pursuing at full speed.
Based on this confirmation of Zwipe’s value proposition and long-term prospects, the Board of Directors has concluded an intent to list on Nasdaq Stockholm's First North Growth Market, thereby further accelerating and supporting the company's development.
I am confident that Zwipe is well positioned to unlock the exciting opportunities coming our way and I am looking forward to the next phase of our journey.”
Please find the full report attached or on the company’s website www.zwipe.com.
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