Chances are you’ve never heard of Tascent, but the biometrics identity company with a focus on iris recognition systems already has customers around the world, including Dubai International Airport, London Gatwick Airport and a number of high-security facilities in the United States.
The company recently acquired the Identity Solutions business unit of AOptix Technologies, and to finance this — as well as to fuel its growth — the company raised an $18.5 million Series A round led by Tano Capital which it first disclosed today.
Iris scanners and biometric solutions aren’t new, of course, but Tascent CEO Dean Senner tells me that he believes his company’s solution stands apart from the competition.
“Traditionally, biometric systems have either been fast and easy to use, or highly accurate,” he said. “Our perspective is that with the right core technology, and with a human-centric approach to product and interaction design, biometric systems can be both. As an example, by delivering on both usability and accuracy, our InSight Duo iris recognition system has enabled deployments that simply weren’t possible previously.”
Senner also argues that while “iris is in many ways the biometric of the future,” the company wants to build products that can also support other biometric factors. “We build products that allow our customers to have access to the optimal biometrics for whatever their use case may be,” he said.
So why did Tascent raise more funds? According to Senner, one of the reasons was to buy the AOptix identity solutions business, which gives Tascent access to that company’s intellectual property and biometrics and iris recognition technology.
“These capabilities led to remarkable deployments, such as our installation at Dubai International Airport, and now provide effortless and accurate biometric identity for tens of millions of people each year,” he said. “This product and technology base forms a cornerstone of our business moving forward.”
The company also plans to use the new funds to invest in product development and to capitalize on the fact that the biometrics market is now “coming of age,” as Senner put it.
In addition, Tascent plans to expand its global presence. The company already has offices in Singapore, Dubai and Washington, D.C.