Biometric startup Blink Identity raises $1.5 million for secure facial recognition at scale

Blink Identity, a frictionless, user first identity in motion startup, has raised $1.5 million in a seed round for secure facial recognition at scale. The latest round was led by Sinai Ventures with participation from Live Nation and Techstars and other live entertainment related funds. The company completed the Techstars Music Accelerator in Los Angeles this past spring, and is bringing fast and secure face recognition technology to live event venues and commercial spaces.

Founded in January 2018 by Mary Haskett and Dr. Alex Kilpatrick, the Austin, Texas-based Blink Identity uses facial recognition technology to identify people at a full walking speed, handling over 60 people per minute in any lighting conditions, creating the next generation of access control, security, and smart buildings. Haskett has extensive experience in the international security and defense industry, developing embedded simulation-based training for the Advanced Tomahawk Weapon Control System (ATWCS). A founder of HCI Training, Inc., Haskett managed development and deployment of training programs for Dell, Sybase, and USAA, as well as the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy.

Dr. Alex Kilpatrick has worked in applied research for twenty-five years, developing key work in space systems, computer science, microelectronics, and artificial intelligence. He serves as co-founder and CTO of Blink Identity. During his military officer career, he rose quickly to manage the entire $12M Air Force basic research program in Computer Science. After leaving the Air Force, he built advanced training software for large enterprises, such as Dell and USAA, producing solutions used by tens of thousands of large company employees.

Blink Identity’s revolutionary identity-in-motion technology identifies people as they walk past a sensor at full walking speed, enabling convenient, high speed identification to provide access control and personalized customer experiences. The founding team has spent the last decade building and deploying large scale biometric identification systems in the Middle East for the Department of Defense and are bringing their expertise to the commercial market to provide security, access control and VIP customer experiences.

“Blink Identity has created a fast, accurate and user-first identity service for live entertainment venues, solving the bottleneck problem and creating a preferential experience for consumers and venue owners alike,” says Jordan Fudge of lead investor Sinai Ventures. “We believe that this technology is widely applicable, and that Mary and Alex’s experience developing biometric identification technology for the Department of Defense uniquely qualifies them to lead the charge.”

Blink Identity provides next generation identity-in-motion via their revolutionary technology that identifies people at a full walking speed – in the blink of an eye. “Blink is revolutionary. Currently, commercial biometrics are almost nonexistent — primarily because other systems are high-friction, difficult to use, inaccurate and vague about privacy/data protections. Our unique experience at large-scale/in-motion identity, combined with our focus on usability and privacy, will allow us to lead adoption in the commercial sector as well as open up new markets.”

The company has secured an initial partnership with Live Nation, the world’s largest entertainment company, to leverage early pilot programs in a variety of venues.