Irians, Specialist in Iris Security, Enters 5 Trillion Won-Scale Chinese Biometric Authentication Market

Established joint venture 'IrianceBT' in Shenzhen, China in partnership with IIP
Focusing on Chinese public security, public, and defense sectors
Aiming for IPO on Shanghai Stock Exchange

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Jeong-su] Iris recognition innovative technology venture ‘Irians’ is entering the 5 trillion won-scale Chinese biometric authentication market.

On the 11th, Irians announced that it recently signed a joint venture contract with the Chinese investment corporation IIP and will establish a joint venture ‘Irians Biological Technology (IriansBT)’ in Shenzhen, China, aiming for an IPO on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

According to Irians, the Chinese biometric authentication market was worth 4.4 trillion won (4 billion USD) in 2020. The market size is rapidly growing at an annual rate of 16.9% and is expected to surpass 5 trillion won this year. It is projected to reach 9.6 trillion won (8.7 billion USD) by 2025.

Irians explained that after IIP verified the technology and business feasibility of Irians’ ‘iris recognition system,’ the joint venture contract was signed due to favorable evaluations in advanced technology, business scalability, and market dominance. In particular, the demand for contactless biometric authentication products in China has significantly increased due to COVID-19, accelerating the joint venture contract.

Under this contract, the newly established company IriansBT will set up a mass production factory for iris authentication products in Shenzhen, China, based on Irians’ technology. It will be responsible for product development, mass production, and sales, targeting both the Chinese and global iris recognition markets.

Irians plans to locally produce iris recognition products through the joint venture and initially supply them to public security and defense sectors in China. The strategy is to export iris recognition products and solutions produced in China to the global biometric authentication market in the future.

Irians is the first and only Korean company to acquire iris authentication using the Financial Services Commission’s distributed storage method and is a world-leading iris recognition specialist. It has obtained certification from the Korea Internet & Security Agency and received an ‘Excellent Algorithm Evaluation’ from the American National Institute of Standards and Technology.

It also holds 5 international patents and 23 domestic patents related to iris technology. It supplies financial transactions, pension payments, personal authentication, and access authentication systems to over 30 countries worldwide, including major financial institutions such as Woori Bank, medical institutions like Veterans Hospitals, and Ecuador.

Kim Seong-hyun, CEO of Irians, said, “This joint venture provides a golden opportunity to dominate the Chinese security market, which has rapidly emerged as the world’s largest contactless biometric authentication market after COVID-19.” He added, “We will focus on supplying iris solutions to major public facilities and hubs to capture the Chinese biometric authentication market and establish ourselves as the world’s top iris authentication specialist.”

Meanwhile, market research firm MarketsandMarkets forecasted that the global biometric authentication market size was 41 trillion won (36.6 billion USD) in 2020 and is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 13.4%, reaching 76.9 trillion won (68.6 billion USD) by 2025.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.