FacePhi Aims for International Expansion with €33M in Financing

“The new funding has been secured amid an ongoing and intense growth period for the biometric authentication specialist, which reported a 143 percent increase in revenues for the first half of 2020…”

FacePhi is looking to supercharge its next growth phase with €33 million in new financial backing.

A substantial chunk of the new financing comes from Nice & Green, the Swiss investment firm that committed to €4 million in backing for FacePhi last year. In a statement announcing the new financial backing, FacePhi said that last year’s investment from Nice & Green enabled the company “to maintain the high level of growth it has experienced in the last year,” which suggests that Nice & Green’s latest investment could help even more: the Swiss firm has significantly upped the ante, amounting to a commitment of €20 million.

Nice & Green’s contribution, like the last one, will take the form of equity warrants, which the investment firm will have the right to convert to shares at certain times and prices. The warrants will be issued over the course of two years.

Meanwhile, FacePhi has also signed a syndicated loan valued at up to €13 million. The loan is structured in three tranches, with the first to be valued at €6 million, the second at €5 million, and the third at €2 million. In its announcement, FacePhi explained that it acquired this loan to facilitate “the restructuring of all the company’s short-term debt, extending repayment terms and achieving a more advantageous interest rate and flexibility in the provision of resources.”

The syndicated loan has been arranged with Banco Santander, Caixabank – which used FacePhi technology in a pioneering biometric ATM last year – Banco de Sabadell, and Deutsche Bank.

The new funding has been secured amid an ongoing and intense growth period for the biometric authentication specialist, which reported a 143 percent increase in revenues for the first half of 2020, and recently expanded its advisory board to help refine its growth strategy.

Commenting on the development, FacePhi CEO Javier Mira said that the funding will help his company to strengthen its workforce and further expand internationally, adding that it will also “facilitate the development of new innovative technological solutions and promote commercial actions for business development”.

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December 15, 2020 – by Alex Perala