Dive Brief:

• Zwipe, a Norwegian company that integrates fingerprint reading technology into payment cards for an additional layer of security, announced that it has raised the equivalent of $14 million in a new share offering, according to a Zwipe press release.

• The company said the financing was raised from approximately 2,300 investors prior to the company's debut on Oslo’s Merkur Market, which took place on Monday, according to another press release.

• Zwipe is preparing for a commercial rollout of its biometric payment cards technology in the second half of this year and is also planning to incorporate it into other formats and devices, like wearables, according to a TechCrunch story.

Dive Insight:

In recent years, as biometric authentication has evolved, some consumers have been wary about using biometric features, mainly over privacy concerns. However, companies have continued to develop new forms of the technology. Apple, which drove wide interest in fingerprint authentication with its Touch ID technology, has since created Face ID, and Alibaba acquired an eye-scanning company, while also pursuing a pay-by-nod capability for use in virtual reality sessions.

Biometric forms of authentication may still have a long way to go before they are used frequently for in-store transactions. However. Zwipe showed off its technology several years ago in a partnership with Mastercard, but is still in the pilot stage with payment cards, according to TechCrunch. The company states that it is actively involved in pilot programs and partnerships in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. 

There are many methods of payment and different technologies evolving to secure transactions. The market is migrating from cash and cards to mobile devices and, increasingly, wearables and other devices and formats.