EyeVerify sells to Alibaba affiliate for more than $100M
September 13, 2016 | Bobby Burch
In what represents one of the metro’s most notable exits in the last decade, Kansas City-based startup EyeVerify announced Tuesday that it has been acquired.
Ant Financial — the payments affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding — purchased EyeVerify for more than $100 million, according to an unnamed local source familiar with the deal.
Ant Financial started using EyeVerify’s biometric security tool in early 2016. Valued at about $60 billion, Ant Financial boasts about 450 million customers, offering services such as online payments, peer-to-peer lending, wealth management and more, Bloomberg reports.
Led by CEO Toby Rush, EyeVerify created the “EyePrint ID,” which transforms a selfie of a user’s eye into a biometric security key. It’s used by millions of people around the world to access mobile banking or other secured information.
Founded in 2012, EyeVerify has 35 staffers, has raised $13 million to date and was named a Top 10 Startup to Watch in 2016 by Startland News.
Now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ant Financial Services Group, EyeVerify plans to stay in Kansas City after the deal, according to the firm. Current employees and the executive management team will also remain with the firm.
The exit is an unequivocal win for Kansas City. Not only will founding team members likely see a nice payout, but so too will EyeVerify’s local investors. Local investors in EyeVerify include Mid-America Angels, Women’s Capital Connection, Think Big Partners, Flyover Capital, Sprint and other private investors.
“Mid-America Angels and the Women’s Capital Connection are proud to have identified EyeVerify as a promising business opportunity and participated in this deal from its earliest stages,” a spokeswoman with MAA said. “We congratulate Toby and his team on years of hard work, and look forward to celebrating this timely victory for Kansas City during Techweek.”
Check back in later for more on this breaking story.
2016 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Four role models selected for Hall of Fame as Junior Achievement celebrates 25 years of business honors
A fresh round of Hall of Fame laureates celebrates Kansas City’s living legacy of visionary leaders who drive business excellence, innovation and community impact, said Megan Sturges, announcing a range of honorees from tech to tender chicken. “The JA Business Hall of Fame celebrates more than business success — it honors the spirit of leadership…
First domino falls as University of Kentucky athletic department launches its own LLC
Editor’s note: The perspectives expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. Parker Graham is co-founder of Vestible, an Overland Park-based investment platform that gives fans ownership in the career trajectories of their favorite players. The University of Kentucky’s athletic department is officially becoming its own LLC. Anyone in athletics needs to understand the implications…
BoysGrow cultivates young leaders in South Kansas City through farming, purpose, entrepreneurship
Editor’s note: The following story was written and first published by the Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City, Missouri (EDCKC). Click here to read the original story. At the heart of South Kansas City’s farmland, a quiet transformation is happening. For more than a decade, BoysGrow has been shaping not just crops — but futures. Founded in…
Start the ignition: These Operation Breakthrough students just designed MADE MOBB’s latest drop
Vu Radley wants students at Operation Breakthrough’s Ignition Lab to have opportunities he wishes he would have been offered in high school, shared the co-owner of Crossroads-based streetwear brand MADE MOBB. His team spent the past nine months working with a handful of teens at the Ignition Lab — Josiah Bryant, Suleyman Dia, Jeremiyah Bradley,…