December 30, 2013 – by Peter B. Counter
We are only two sleeps away from New Year’s Day 2014: the beginning of what many are already calling the “Year of Mobile Biometrics.” The promises of mobile money applications, better BYOD and smartphone-as-credential technology have been ramping up throughout all of 2013, and with a number of FIDO Ready biometric solutions right around the corner, it would be easy to call it a year simply due to the excitement of what’s to come.
Before the ball drops on the year that was, Swedish sensor manufacturer Fingerprint Cards AB (FPC) has some news, revealing today that during the month of December the number of Class B shares rose by 2.5 million, bringing the total number of company shares to 54,161,135. As class B shares, this new batch will carry one vote each, as opposed to the 1.2 million Class A shares that carry ten voting rights per unit.
This boom in shares is a result of a single private placement, disclosed on December 17, 2013, which increased FPC share capital by SEK 500,000.
An investment of this size is not surprising given how active and aggressive Fingerprint Cards has been in the second half of 2013. Most recently, the company was awarded a major design win from a global tier one smartphone provider for its new capacitive touch sensor, the FPC1020 which was launched earlier this month. The world’s first capacitive touch sensor optimized for Android and Windows running devices, the FPC1020 is also the company’s contribution to its first official FIDO Alliance collaboration with Nok Nok Labs.
This came on the heels of a summer and autumn filled with not only design wins, but also product launches throughout Asia, a region that Fingerprint Cards has been brazenly aggressive in targeting, especially after benefiting in the stock market thanks to rumors of Apple’s then-to-be-named Touch ID technology. Japanese and Korean smartphones, and phablets are already available for purchase in their respective countries featuring FPC biometric technology, and 2014 holds the promise of more to hit shelves.
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