SecurityWorldMarket

11/08/2008

Suprema launches IPO

Seoul, Korea

Suprema, Inc. (KOSDAQ: 094840), a global supplier of fingerprint recognition technology and systems, has launched Korea's first IPO in the biometric sector. Suprema enjoys a majority of the Korean biometrics market, while the company's globally certified technology is installed with more than 500 clients in 100 countries worldwide. 600,000 shares were offered to the public with an opening day final price of KRW23,100 (US$23.03).

Founded in 2000 by current CEO James Lee, Ph.D, Suprema's biometric core fingerprint technologies for PC and embedded applications feature the integration of the company's embedded system design capability with pre-eminent algorithm theory, backed by a team of experts with rich experience and extensive knowledge in the fields of biometric solutions, embedded system design and signal processing.

Suprima offers a wide range of fingerprint authentication products including fingerprint OEM modules, fingerprint access control systems and software. The company's lineup is now expanding to a range of ePassport readers and live scanners for the ePassport & Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems (AFIS) markets, with initial deliveries of passport readers to airline ticket counters in Incheon International Airport and AFIS systems to the Korean National Police Agency.

Suprema's core fingerprint recognition technology has also received international acclaim, earning top rank at the last two Fingerprint Verification Competitions (FVCs), the world's largest, bi-annual evaluations of fingerprint matching technologies. In FVC2004 and FVC2006, Suprema's fingerprint recognition algorithm ranked first among all participants in the light and open categories respectively.

The company's revenue has increased at a compound annual growth rate of 96.3 percent since 2004, with this year's expected turnover doubling to KRW25 billion (US USD25 million). Exports account for more than 60 percent of sales, distributed worldwide across Europe (30 percent), Asia (27 percent), the Americas (25 percent) and Africa/Middle East (18 percent).

Suprema's fingerprint systems include fingerprint terminals under the brand name BioStation, Internet protocol (IP)-based distributed access control systems under the brand name BioStar, simple fingerprint access control products under the brand name BioEntry and standalone outdoor fingerprint locks under the brand name BioLite Solo.

Fingerprint solutions include the SFM embedded module series, the SFR personal computers (PC) series, and fingerprint engine software development kits (SDKs) for PC-based fingerprint application development.

In all, the company has supplied more than 200,000 embedded fingerprint (FP) authentication devices (Suprema devices with Suprema FP modules) to over 2,500 sites worldwide.


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