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Story 18 March 2019
Public

Stories: Authenteq was named one of the 5 hottest scale-ups from up and coming tech hubs by the Next Web

stories-authenteq
Ana Luisa Pinho

European Innovation Council (EIC) pilot’s funded company Authenteq was named one of the 5 hottest scale-ups from up and coming tech hubs by the Next Web. Together with payments tech company Adyen, Next Web set out in search of the most promising new startups across Europe and Israel based on their performance, growth, and potential, covering already major hubs including Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, The Netherlands, Ireland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Estonia, Finland, Poland, UK, Israel, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Hungary.

Authenteq is developing a blockchain-based, 100% automated, identity proofing service – Authenteq ID – with biometric user authentication, ideal for online services that need a trusted ID for user enrolling or to validate high-risk transactions. 

 

According to Authenteq project, “Online identity theft / fraud due to database breaches, phishing or malware is a global issue with huge costs. In the first half of 2017, 1.9 billion records were stolen worldwide – up 164% compared to the last six months of 2016 – costing on average €3.1 million per breach. After these hacks, fraudsters use the stolen data to impersonate their victims online in a few hours. Online businesses try to shield themselves from the use of stolen or fraudulent IDs by requesting documents to their customers to assert if ‘they are who they say they are’."

 

The  automated identity verification and privacy platform from Authenteq enables users to verify their identity and create their own sovereign digital IDs which are stored and encrypted on a blockchain. Verifying your identity with Authenteq will take you less than 60 seconds (if you do not already have an Authenteq ID) and less than three seconds if you do.

With this project, Authenteq has received a Phase 1 grant from the EIC pilot SME Instrument in 2017 of 50.000 € and a Phase 2 in 2018 of 1.231.125 €.

Although the company is originally Icelandic, their technology can be used worldwide, in 190 countries.

 

View Authenteq's information on the EIC SME Instrument data hub.

DISCLAIMER: This information is provided in the interest of knowledge sharing and should not be interpreted as the official view of the European Commission, or any other organisation.

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