Veridicom Inc, the Lucent Technologies Inc spin-off that focuses on electronic identification using fingerprint sensors (CI No 3,166), said it has received additional second-round funding from Intel Corp and bankers Hambrecht & Quist. The undisclosed amount of new funding comes as an add-on to the company’s second round, which was completed in June and raised $7m from Allegro Capital, AT&T Ventures, Lucent and US Venture Partners. The new funding deal will also see Veridicom working with Intel to incorporate interfaces for biometrics into the Intel-developed Common Data Security Architecture (CDSA) and to implement Veridicom as a CDMA service provider. Veridicom’s patented 500 dpi (dots per inch) fingerprint sensors and matching software will be used to prevent a PC from booting up unless the proper fingerprint is recognized. In addition, the technology will likely be utilized for other applications such as secure log-on to a network, internet transactions and database security. Veridicom, spun out from Lucent in 1996, claims to think of itself mainly as an OEM supplier. It has partnerships in place with PC maker Acer America Corp, keyboard maker Key Tronic Corp and TRW Systems Integration Group, as well as software developer I/O Software Inc and various other companies focused on biometric research. The company said it’s also working on deals with various major PC makers and peripheral suppliers, and that products incorporating its technology should begin surfacing at the Comdex trade show in November. An agreement with Apple is expected later this week that will see the company’s biometric chip available as an option of the new iMac computer. Veridicom expects to become profitable within the next 12 months as it steadies its revenue stream. It plans to go public further down the road, most likely within a three-to-five year period, depending upon market conditions.
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