PXL Vision secures CHF 4.6 Million seed round

 

ETH spin-off PXL Vision has developed an AI-based software platform to deliver secure, automated identity verification. The company has now received CHF 4.6 million in a seed financing round to expand its technology and grow internationally. SIX Fintech Ventures led the round. 

 

Billions of personal datasets are stolen every year and are frequently used for fraudulent purposes. Trust in digital interactions is, therefore, crucial. More and more companies are now moving towards verifying their customers’ identities beyond any doubt. They need digital solutions that are secure, cost-effective, easy to use and compliant with regulatory requirements.

Flexible identity verification in real-time
PXL Vision has developed a digital KYC verification platform that offers a great deal of flexibility to its business customers and is highly modular compared to competitor products. The platform uses Artificial Intelligence to verify an identity document in real-time using the smartphone camera and to confirm the user identity via a liveness check and a face comparison with a video selfie, all with minimal user interaction. Alongside SwissID, the leading Swiss identity provider, several large companies such as Sunrise, Salt, UPC and ZKB rely on PXL Vision’s technology. There are many application fields: from closing a mobile phone contract online, regardless of location, to opening bank accounts electronically within a few minutes, such as with ZKB's Frankly app for pension savings.

Growth financing completed
“Having demonstrated that we can compete against large and established suppliers in a very competitive market, it is now time to expand beyond national borders," says PXL Vision CEO Michael Born.

To accelerate growth, PXL Vision has raised CHF 4.6 Million (USD 4.7 million) in seed funding, led by SIX Fintech Ventures, the Swiss Stock Exchange VC. The other investors are ZKB, High Tech Gründerfonds and Arab Bank, as well as the experienced Business Angels Beat Schillig (IFJ) and David Studer (Xovis).

The growth capital will enable PXL Vision to expand its product portfolio further, to enter new markets and industries as well as enable the company to move forward rapidly: “We are investing primarily in the intelligence and scalability of our technology, as well as in the international expansion of the business. We will substantially expand the sales, marketing and development teams to drive growth further,” says Karim Nemr, PXL Vision's Chief Business Officer.

“PXL Vision’s unique AI technology and innovation pipeline, its flexible and modular product portfolio and the impressive track record of its experienced management team convinced us. We fully expect PXL Vision to become one of the leading providers of digital identity solutions worldwide,” says Andreas Iten, Head of SIX Fintech Ventures. He will support PXL Vision in the subsequent growth phase as a member of the management board.

A collection of accolades in three years
Since its foundation in 2017 by Michael Born, Nevena Shamoska, Roxana Porada, Lucas Sommer and Karim Nemr who worked at Dacuda AG before it was sold to Florida-based Magic Leap, PXL Vision has established itself on the Swiss market. The team has grown from four to over forty.  The company has collected several accolades such as the Swiss Economic Award 2019, the W.A. De Vigier Award 2019, and the Swisscom Startup Challenge Award 2019. It has also completed both the SAP.iO and the F10 Fintech Incubator & Accelerator programs.

(Press release/RAN)