Zwipe and Fingerprint Cards Announce Partnership

Zwipe, A.S., and Fingerprint Cards AB (FPC) – two leaders in the development and delivery of biometric authentication technology today announced a strategic partnership. The companies will take a leading role in developing the market around biometric smartcards in the payment industry and carry out joint activities and industry thought leadership.

Zwipe has developed and introduced the World’s first biometric system that fits into a standard credit card form factor. With its unique energy-harvesting technology, the contactless payment card operates without a battery, by simply taking the energy it needs from the payment terminal over Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. By use of the low-energy consuming and high performing sensor from Fingerprint Cards the solution has proven its capabilities in pilots and tests performed by banks and leading actors in the payment industry.

“Zwipe and Fingerprint Cards (FPC) have enjoyed a close relationship for several years during a phase when Zwipe has been preparing its offering for large-scale commercial roll-out. FPC is experiencing strong momentum and it made sense for Zwipe to join forces with them to grow market receptiveness within the biometric category of the rapidly growing smartcard market,” said Kim Kristian Humborstad, Founder and CEO of Zwipe.

Already present in the fast growing access control market with its Zwipe Access product, Zwipe has completed several pilots in the payment vertical.

“With FPC’s and Zwipe’s respective strong market position, a partnership to address specific markets was inevitable,” adds Jorgen Lantto, CEO of Fingerprint Cards AB. “FPC’s leading extremely low-powered touch fingerprint sensor technology combined with Zwipe’s energy-harvesting technology brings forward a very compelling combined offering. We are looking forward to support Zwipe taking a leading position in biometric smart cards.”

This strategic partnership between Zwipe and FPC will include joint marketing activities around events and launches of smartcard related products, including the upcoming Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona from 22 – 25 February. In addition, Zwipe and FPC will highlight each other’s technologies and benefits in strategic customer projects, further enabling both companies to jointly drive their efforts and investments to deliver value.