Mobbeel has been selected as finalist for Red Herring’s Top 100 Europe award, a prestigious list honoring the year’s most promising private technology ventures from the European business region.

The Red Herring editorial team selected the most innovative companies from a pool of hundreds from across Europe. The nominees are evaluated on both quantitative and qualitative criteria, such as financial performance, technology innovation, quality of management, execution of strategy, and integration into their respective industries.

This unique assessment of potential is complemented by a review of the actual track record and standing of a company, which allows Red Herring to see past the “buzz” and make the list an valuable instrument for discovering and advocating the greatest business opportunities in the industry.

“This year was very rewarding,” said Alex Vieux, publisher and CEO of Red Herring. “The global economic situation has abated and there are many great companies producing really innovative and amazing products. We had a very difficult time narrowing the pool and selecting the finalists. Mobbeel shows great promise therefore deserves to be among the finalists. Now we’re faced with the difficult task of selecting the Top 100 winners of Red Herring Europe. We know that the 2012 crop will grow into some amazing companies that are sure to make an impact.”

Finalists for the 2012 edition of the Red Herring 100 Europe award are selected based upon their technological innovation, management strength, market size, investor record, customer acquisition, and financial health. During the several months leading up to the announcement, hundreds of companies in the telecommunications, security, Web 2.0, software, hardware, biotech, mobile and other industries completed their submissions to qualify for the award.

A month ago, the ceremony for the fourth edition of the ‘Navegantes de Hoy’ awards was held. This awards organized by the ‘Hoy’ newspaper online edition born with the purpose of recognizing companies and individuals that with their works, projects and activities have done more for the spread and development of Extremadura through the use of new technologies and the internet.

During this event, participante should shortly explain their business idea to the jury. Our projecto was finalist in the ‘Best mobile development’ category along with the ‘Utopia’ zafrense company for its project ‘Geociudad.com’ and also with ‘Red EberSalud’ with its ‘Calculation of Cardiovascular Risk’. After deliberation, the jury named us winners for our biometric security solution for smartphones. To end the night, we received a small statue exclusively designed by sculptor Miguel Sansón for ‘Navegantes de Hoy’. Although everything didn’t end there, the prize was also an iPhone 4S for each team member through the sponsorship of Telefónica Movistar.

Last Wednesday, February 22th , Mr. Miguel Ángel Perez Polo, Extremadura Telefónica CEO, came to our offices in the corporate area of the ‘Centro de Cirujía de Mínima Invasión Jesús Usón’ of Caceres, to perform the act of delivery of our new phones.

From Mobbeel, we’d want to thank ‘Hoy.es’ digital newspaper and Telefónica for their work promoting entrepreneurship in Extremadura and for their commitment to innovation and development. We also congratulate the other finalists for their hard work and effort, because they deserved the award so much as we did. And finally, thanks also to everyone that encourage us to follow day by day with their support, because they are our greatest prize.

Mobbeel is proud of participating along with Caceres City Council on the Garage 2.0 Biometric security project. Moreover, we apreciate the City Council’s firm commitment to innovation and development as the way forward.

The project consists of adding a biometric access control system to six rooms of the Garage 2.0 Innovation Factory.

That access control is based on the use of smartphones and biometric recognition technology developed by Mobbeel that allows to identify people from unique features, such as iris or handwritten signature. The system verifies the identity of the Garage 2.0 users, and in case of being authorized, it allows the access to the rooms that are part of the project.

How does it work?
Once the project is over, The Garage 2.0 users can access to the rooms that they have been authorized to, using their smartphone as if it were a key. They only need to get closer to the room they want to access. Once there and using the application specially designed for smartphones, the user verifies its identity. Furthermore, If the system checks that the user have access to that room, the smartphone will securely and wirelessly communicate with the door and allow access.

There are several advantages:

No more keys, now you are the key.
The need of physical distribution of keys is removed. If the Garage 2.0 user has an smartphone supported by the system, he can use it to access to the rooms in which has been authorized.In case of not having a supported device, Garage 2.0 will make available several supported terminals to the users.

Even if the smartphone is stolen or lost, no one without authorization can access to that rooms thanks to the biometric recognition technology.

Three levels of security
- Something you only know: the specific access code of the room you want to access.
- Something you only own: the mobile device with the access application installed.
- Something you only are: You only have access to the room through your iris or your handwritten signature.

Related news:
‘Hoy’ newspaper
‘El periódico de Extremadura’ newspaper

We are glad to announce that Mobbeel, Biometric security solutions for smartphones, is exhibiting at MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS 2012 in Barcelona-Spain, dated 27th February 2012 – 01st March 2012.

As you probably know, Mobile World Congress (MWC) is the must-attend annual gathering of the mobile industry, offering the opportunity to meet with more than 50.000 key decision-makers from more than 200 countries and representing exhibitors from at least 50 countries and all facets of the mobile world, while showcasing all existing and new business opportunities, leading the world into the mobile future.

Mobbeel is happy to invite you to our Stand CY22, Courtyard 3.0! It would be a great opportunity to meet you all there in person, in order to discuss and discover new business opportunities and give you solutions, based on your own exact needs.

You’re always welcome to schedule a meeting with us in date and time of your preference through our website.

Happy to meet you all in MWC 2012, Stand CY22, Courtyard 3.0!

On June 15th 2011, Bankinter and Mobbeel jointly presented its groundbreaking broker application for smartphones. The applicationan identifies the user by using a biometric iris recognition system (developed by Mobbeel).

This unique technology allows clients to access their brokerage accounts on their smartphones through an iris recognition system which only requires the use of the smartphone’s camera, without needing additional hardware or external sensors. This new technology is an important step forward when compared to traditional username plus password identification and authentication protocols. Read more…

We are glad to announce that Bankinter Broker Iris project has won the prestigious Financial World Innovation Awards, presented at the Grand Connaught Rooms ,Covent Garden, London, on Thursday 1 December 2011.

Bankinter won in the category ‘Most Innovative Application of Technology – Customer Facing Functionality’.

Chris Ray, Director of Communications and Alumni Services at the ifs School of Finance:
“The 14th annual Financial World Innovation Awards saw some outstandingly creative initiatives from many of the UK’s largest companies. The innovation in financial services shown by the winners across all of the categories was truly impressive.
In these challenging economic times, innovation in the products and services offered to customers is extremely important, and defines who the market leaders are, and who customers can turn to. We would like to congratulate Bankinter therefore for their achievement in what was a very competitive category.”

About Bankinter
Bankinter, Spanish sixth-largest bank by size, is a reference entity in the financial market by its high technological development, quality of service above the industry average and a clear commitment to innovation and the use of alternative channels in their relationship with customers, complementary to the traditional branch network, telephone banking, Internet and mobile.

About Mobbeel

Mobbeel is a leader company in the development of biometric security solutions for mobile devices. Its technology allows the user of a mobile phone a convenient and secure access to sensitive information or digital services through a unique feature of the individual, as opposed to traditional unsafe passwords or PINs. Its mission is to bring high security using a device like the mobile phone to any user, anytime, anywhere.

About ifs School of Finance

The event was organized by ifs School of Finance, a registered educational charity incorporated by Royal Charter. It has a remit to provide the financial services industry with a skilled, effective and competent workforce whilst also promoting a better understanding of finance amongst consumers.

Mobbeel has been invited to participate in CARTES & IDentification 2011 , the World leading business event in digital security and technological innovation, which will be held in Paris from 15 to 17 November. The conference programme is available here.

Our CEO, José Luis Huertas, will give a speech together with Paul Frausto, CISO of IDéPhone project and Jean-Marie Saura, Senior Consultant at Pragmatic Product Management, within the subject “Security, Trust & Privacy – New Challenges”, about mobile biometry and its combination with PKI (Public Key Infrastructure).

His lecture “Secure Authentication with the Mobile Devices: Cost Effective PKI Enabled Security with Multi-Platform Authentication” will be about the use of certificates to turn a smartphone into a strong authentication device, the combination with biometry to add an extra security layer without increasing the difficult for the user and about how the authentication systems can give support to the marketing targets.

If you want to organize a meeting with Mobbeel during the event please contact us here, via Twitter (@mobbeel) or Facebook (facebook.com/mobbeel).

About CARTES & IDentification 2011

Every year in Paris, CARTES & IDentification brings together more than 500 international companies that offer the most exhaustive range of products, equipment and services related to digital security.

In 2010, the event was attended by 450 expositors, welcoming more than 20.000 visitors and representing nearly 150 countries.

Mobbeel, Extremadura Avante and CDTI has announced that Mobbeel closed its first round of funding totaling €0.5M.

The funding will enable Mobbeel to improve the current state of its biometric recognition technologies (iris, handwritten signature and voice), research and develop new ones such as face and hand geometry recognition as well as positioning the company for continued growth and future investment.

Part of the funding has been received from the Spanish CDTI NEOTEC program. The CDTI (Centre for Industrial Technological Development) is a public company which is affiliated with the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. NEOTEC supports the creation and consolidation of new spanish technology companies.

Extremadura Avante has also invested in this seed round. Extremadura Avante is a public enterprise of the regional goverment of Extremadura whose aim is it to lend funds as well as making equity investments. Its objective is to support important local businesses in surviving and growing in the economic crisis.

On Thursday, June 30, Mobbeel attended the XVI Extremadura Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, presented by “El Periódico Extremadura”. In this event, Mobbeel received the award for the best Digital Initiative. We want to thank the organization and the jury for considering us for these awards.

For more information, see here and here news of “El Periódico Extremadura”.

On June 15, Bankinter and Mobbeel jointly presented its’s groundbreaking broker application for mobiles, an application that identifies the client by using a biometric iris recognition system (developed by Mobbeel).

This unique technology allows clients to access their brokerage accounts on their smartphones through an iris recognition system which requires only the use of the smartphone’s camara, without the need for additional hardware or external sensors. This new technology is an important step forward when compared to traditional username plus password identification and authentication protocols.

Iris recognition is the most reliable form of biometric recognition, as it is practically impossible to find two identical irises, and thus offering an extremely high degree of security. This security, together with a simplified user experience, makes for the technology to be an ideal solution for mobile financial services and mobile investment brokerage solutions.

Generally speaking, iris recognition works in the following manner: Upon capturing a close-up image of the face, the application isolates the eye and proceeds to identify the exterior and interior borders of the iris, codifying these through complex imagery treatment algorithms. The entire process for recognizing the iris is performed on the mobile device, from the image capture of the iris, to biometric pattern identification and user matching and identification.

Bankinter is the first bank to use this technology, which in its initial phase has been deployed onto iPhone 4 given the significant penetration of these smartphones amongst its customer base: 55% of Bankinter’s mobile banking customers have an iPhone.

In the following phase, and depending on technology acceptance by users and rendering in terms of usability and security, Bankinter does not rule out using this same technology for other digital remote channels: ATMs, Telephone Banking, Internet Banking, etc.

This pioneering application in Spain is a significant advancement in the value-added mobile banking services that Bankinter has implemented over the years for its customers, such as the possibility of accessing accounts, engaging in financial transactions and real-time trading, or advanced functionalities such as geo-location through augmented reality.

On May 25, 2011 the Entrepreneur XXI Award (Emprendedor XXI), organized by the Regional Ministry of Economy, Commerce and Innovation, was presented by Ana Maria Alejandre, General Business Director of Competitiveness and Jesus Alonso, General Director of Science and Technology.

Mobbeel has been awarded the EmprendesXXI Prize thanks to the developement and comercialization of biometric recognition technologies (iris, handwritten signature…) for mobile devices that ensures users can access their devices and sensitive information in a secure and reliable way.

The EmprendesXXI category is intended for companies from 0 to 2 years. The prize consists of 5,000€ and a scholarship for a Cambrige University entrepreneurship course.

In the CrecesXXI category, for companies between 2 and 7 years, the winner was IGO SOFTWARE. The company is developing Glob3, a multiplatform technology for GSI 3D maps. Its prize consists of a commercial mission to Silicon Valley, a scholarship for the Executive Growth Program (an ad-hoc course designed by ESADE and IESE) and the participation in the final national contest.

Warm thanks to all those whose support continues to help turn our dreams into reality.

The EmprendedorXXI Award

The EmprendedorXXI Award was founded in 2007 with the aim of promoting the development of new innovative companies and identifying those with the greatest potential for growth in each region. It is the only award of its kind that has a regional phase, implemented in each region at the instigation of more than 30 local and regional organizations linked to business creation and entrepreneurship.

With this year’s EmprendedorXXI Award, “la Caixa” and ENISA take a step forward in their strategy to socially recognize and highlight those entrepreneurs who have launched a business initiative and need a boost in order to establish themselves permanently in the marketplace.

For more information download the press note.