Hancom has revealed the signing of an investment agreement in Barcelona, Spain, with the presence of Hancom's CEO Yeon-soo Kim and FacePhi's CEO Javier Mira. This agreement entails Hancom's equity investments in FacePhi and the acquisition of exclusive business rights to FacePhi within the APAC region.
Simultaneously listed on the stock exchanges in Spain and France, FacePhi boasts a range of AI-driven biometric technologies including facial, fingerprint, iris, and voice recognition, essential for robust authentication processes. Operating primarily across Europe and Latin America, the company has garnered acclaim both domestically and internationally for its cutting-edge technology. Notably, it has amassed a significant client base in Korea's financial sector, underscoring its reputation for excellence.
In particular, with regard to anti-spoofing (fake identification) functionality, which is the most important feature in facial recognition technology, FacePhi possesses technology using a passive method (authenticating identity with a single frontal facial image), which is emerging as a next-generation technology, rather than the widely used active method (requiring the person to move his or her face to prove identity). In 2022, FacePhi acquired i-Beta Level 2 certification from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which guarantees the anti-spoofing performance of facial recognition technology. The fact that there are only nine passive i-Beta Level 2 companies in the world demonstrates that FacePhi's technology is world-class.
With this investment, Hancom is set to become the second-largest shareholder of FacePhi. Leveraging this position, the company intends to fortify its standing in the global AI market by employing a white-label approach, marketing FacePhi's solutions under the Hancom brand across the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. Hancom anticipates significant synergies from this collaboration and envisions uncovering novel services and business opportunities by integrating FacePhi's multi-recognition biometric technology with Hancom's AI capabilities, HancomWITH's security solutions, Clipsoft's reporting tools, and Hancom CareLink's healthcare services.
"Through this investment, we will be able to expand Hancom's AI business area and we expect to expand overseas sales by supplying Hancom-branded FacePhi solutions to the entire Asia-Pacific region in the future", said Yeon-soo Kim, CEO of Hancom. "We will continue to lead the AI market by actively promoting collaboration with, investment in, and acquisition of competent AI businesses".
The global market for digital authentication solutions is experiencing steady growth, averaging a 12% annual increase. With a focus on enhancing security measures, there's a notable transition from conventional fingerprint-based biometric technology to facial recognition. Moreover, there's a rising inclination towards adopting passive techniques to counter forgery, particularly in response to emerging technologies like deepfakes.