2016年11月7日

Reprints Simplifide是一家位於美國威斯康星州麥迪遜的初創公司，該公司正在開發基於身體特征驗證身份的技術，該公司表示已從投資者那裏籌集了100萬美元。該公司聯合創始人兼首席執行官傑夫·麥卡利斯特(Jeff McAllister)表示，該公司於今年早些時候成立，即將簽下第一個客戶，目前正在與美國和歐洲的一些機構討論開展試點項目。McAllister表示，目前Simplifide的員工數量隻有個位數。不過，他計劃利用最近一輪融資的部分資金來增加員工。本輪融資已於8月結束，但直到上周才宣布。麥卡利斯特說，種子輪融資的所有參與者都是個人投資者。他拒絕透露姓名。Simplifide打算將其軟件銷售給多個行業的公司，包括醫療保健和銀行業。麥卡利斯特說，在高風險貸款領域，確認潛在借款人的身份是特別重要的。Venmo和其他移動支付服務的受歡迎程度正在飆升，因此每分鍾都有更多的交易發生。麥卡利斯特說，這導致金融行業某些領域的風險水平上升。 “More ways that money is being moved means more opportunity for hackers,” he says. “These companies need to be able to identify who is moving the money.” The startup is working to configure its software so that users can verify their customers’ identities using selfie photos they take of their faces on the spot, through voice recognition, or by scanning their fingers or eyes. McAllister says the face-recognizing technology is ready to use today, and that voice is not far behind. Simplifide says its digital tools are designed to be compatible with mobile and desktop operating systems developed by Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT ), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL ), and Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL ). Part of Simplifide’s vision is replacing the palm and iris scanners that some banks, medical clinics, and other brick-and-mortar locations have introduced in recent years. McAllister says that letting people prove their identities using their own Web-enabled devices would yield cost savings for some of the organizations Simplifide is targeting as clients, which wouldn’t have to buy hardware. And with banking in particular, people can now perform more tasks than ever without actually having to walk into a branch, which makes the need for products like Simplifide’s more urgent. Customers of organizations Simplifide plans to sell to would need to provide Simplifide with pictures of themselves or fingerprint or voice samples. McAllister says the enrollment process would likely involve “white label” branding; in other words, customers providing biometric data would primarily see the logos of their banks or healthcare providers on the screen. However, Simplifide would be the one responsible for managing the data, and keeping it secure, McAllister says. Jeff Buchanan is the editor of Xconomy Wisconsin. Email: jbuchanan@xconomy.com Follow @_jeffbuchanan