CLEAR Returns to CNBC Disruptor 50

“…the company has returned to the Disruptor 50 list this year thanks in part to its new Health Pass technology, which is designed to link an individual’s health data to a mobile ID app.”

Biometric screening specialist CLEAR has once again made the CNBC Disruptor 50 list of innovative companies.

The company earned a spot on the list last year thanks largely to its biometric screening technology for airports and large venues like arenas and stadiums, not to mention its pioneering efforts in biometric payments technology that allows enrolled individuals to make purchases at select concessions stands with a simple fingerprint scan and no need for a payment card or any other peripheral.

Things are different this year, of course. The COVID-19 pandemic has decimated air travel, and prompted a great deal of caution and unease around shared-use fingerprint scanners (though CLEAR also supports contactless iris and face biometrics). Those market factors being as they are, CNBC notes that CLEAR has been forced to put a number of employees on leave.

Nevertheless, the company has returned to the Disruptor 50 list this year thanks in part to its new Health Pass technology, which is designed to link an individual’s health data to a mobile ID app. The aim is to partner with other organizations in order to let them use Health Pass for access control, making sure that only individuals with a clean bill of health on the app are able to gain entry. So far, CLEAR has only been in preliminary talks about getting Health Pass deployed, but its adaptability in pivoting its biometric screening technology to health screening during the pandemic certainly appears to have impressed CNBC.

Other companies on this year’s roster of the CNBC Disruptor 50 include Stripe (ranked #1), DoorDash (#12), Duolingo (#42), and Impossible Foods (#49). CLEAR is ranked at #39.

Source: CNBC