Japan's Global Brain invests biometric ID player

Kepventure, a subsidiary of Singapore’s Keppel Corporation, and Japan-based Accord Ventures also participated. Global Brain invested via its third fund in partnership with KDDI Corporation, which was set up with JPY20 billion ($183 million) in 2018. This is Global Brain and KDDI’s first investment from their recently established joint office in Singapore.

Founded in 2014, Gtriip is headquartered in San Francisco but predominantly operational in Singapore. The company styles itself as the “global category leader in hotel check-ins with a selfie.” Its facial and fingerprint recognition software allows businesses to confirm the IDs of clients and employees via their smart phones with no additional hardware required.

Gtriip claims to have completed more than one million check-ins for hotels and office access points across Singapore, Macau, and Australia. The system is touted as improving hotels’ productivity, security, and carbon footprint by reducing hardware usage and cutting check-in time by 70%. Clients include Singapore’s Park Hotel Group and Amara Hotel Group.

“Payment is already becoming mainstream on mobile, but there are still a few things that we must carry physically — photo ID, driving license, and keys,” Huang Siheng, co-founder and CTO of Gtriip, said in a statement. “Gtriip envisions and believes in a future where people can travel without any photo ID or access card. Our face and biometrics suffice as our identity. Once we have this in place, geographical mobility can become seamless.”

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Early-stage
• Consumer
• Technology
• Singapore
• USA
• Global Brain Corporation