KeyLemon, a Switzerland-based startup which provides face and speaker authentication technology, has closed a reported $1.5m series A funding round co-led by Debiopharm Investment, the private equity and venture capital division of Debiopharm Group, a Switzerland-based group of biopharmaceutical companies, and Swisscom Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of Switzerland-based leading telecom operator Swisscom.
The funding will be used to support KeyLemon’s growth and to develop new technologies and customer solutions.
Previously, in March 2011, KeyLemon raised a loan of CHF300,000 ($321,550) through Swiss crowdfunding platform Cofundit. KeyLemon is also a partner of Microsoft’s BizSpark program and received a BizSpark Award.
Gilles Florey, chief executive officer of KeyLemon, said: “The support from our new investors validates our vision of enhancing the authentication process to increase security and make such process easier for our users.”
Thierry Mauvernay, delegate of the board of Debiopharm Investment, said: “KeyLemon understands the paradox of security: there is no system that can be 100% reliable. Therefore a combination of face and voice recognition dramatically increases the authentication process. Beyond this concept, KeyLemon impressed me with proven key strengths in the use of algorithms which entails further development perspectives.”
Pär Lange, investment officer at Swisscom Ventures, said: “Devices such as PC’s, smartphones and tablets generally have integrated cameras and microphones, which enable the broad adoption of KeyLemon’s authentication solutions. I am impressed with what KeyLemon has achieved this far, and as an ever increasing number of online services become part of our daily lives, I believe there will be a growing demand for KeyLemon’s solutions. With its agile technology, KeyLemon is also well positioned to leverage from the trend of cloud based computing in the authentication space.”
KeyLemon was founded in 2008 as a spin-off from the Idiap Research Institute, a Switzerland-based research foundation which specializes in man-machine interactions, and of which Swisscom is a founder.