UK cybersecurity firm Zamna has raised US$5m in a seed funding round led by venture capital firms LocalGlobe and Oxford Capital, alongside Seedcamp, the London Co-Investment Fund (LCIF), Telefonica, and a number of influential investors.
Existing investor IAG (International Airlines Group), also took part, and has been revealed as Zamna’s first commercial client.
Zamna’s blockchain-powered data verification platform verifies and connects the passenger data sets currently siloed between airlines, governments and security agencies, reducing the need for checks by up to 90%, according to the company. The idea is that – as more passenger identities are verified digitally and shared securely between parties – the airport security process will become automated and passengers will be able to travel through the airport without needing any physical documentation or repeated ID checks.
The new funding will be used to support the roll-out of Zamna’s proprietary Advance Passenger Information validation platform for biographic and biometric data, which is already being deployed by major airlines as well as immigration authorities.
Zamna is built on triple-patented privacy-by-design proprietary algorithms designed to check the accuracy of Advanced Passenger Information or biometric data, without having to share any of that data with third parties. Zamna enables airlines, airports and governments to access a secure, immutable and distributed network of validations. Zamna’s technology can be used by any of these parties to validate passengers biographic and biometric data, using cryptographically sound ‘Signals’ to check that travelers are who they say they are.
Zamna is a strategic partner to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and an active member of IATA’s One ID working group, a mission that seeks to provide passengers with a frictionless airport experience.
Irra Ariella Khi, co-founder and CEO of Zamna, said, “For airport security to successfully become frictionless through biometric capabilities, the first step is to have access to 100% accurate and trustworthy passenger data. Zamna is delivering on this – built on a ‘privacy by design’ framework, it ensures that airlines and governments get accurate, trustworthy data in advance of a passenger traveling, enabling the traveler to get through the airport without multiple identity checks.”
Formerly known as VChain Technology, the newly rebranded Zamna has also recently started working with Emirates airline and the UAE’s General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners to deliver a seamless check-in and transit experience for passengers traveling through Emirates airports. This is the first time a government authority has collaborated with an airline as part of a joint vision for improving airport security, enabled through Zamna’s data verification technology.