Belfast-based B-Secur has raised €4.7m (£4m) in Series A funding from existing investors Accelerated Digital Ventures and Kernel Capital. This brings their total funding to €11.7m (£10m).

What they do

B-Secur, whose HeartKey algorithms made a splash this year at CES, is looking to use ECG monitoring in a dual role: both for health and wellness purposes and for biometric identification.

The potential use cases include helping employers monitor their users' health while also securing protected areas, or creating security systems for vehicles that would also detect, via the steering wheel, when drivers are stressed out or in need to rest.

The technology can be deployed in various form factors, including wearables and steering wheels.

What it’s for

According to the company, the latest funding round will go toward creating new partnerships, similar to existing deals with Cypress Semiconductor and NXP Semiconductors.

Additionally, the company plans to add at least 10 new employees to its 35-person team and to open up an American office in San Francisco.

Market snapshot

B-Secur’s approach of combining biometric authentication with heart rate monitoring for health may be original, but the company does have some competition around the idea of ECG-as-ID. Nymi, previously known as Bionym, has been quietly working on the idea since at least 2014.

On the record

"HeartKey algorithms offer data protection for devices and vehicles,” B-Secur founder Alan Foreman said in a statement. “It also offers the added benefit of providing insights into an individual's physical wellbeing, which enables a wide range of life-enhancing or potentially life-saving benefits. We're at a really exciting stage for the business, we have forged very significant links with big name partners who recognise our technology's value and importance to their own product development and this investment will allow us to continue driving our ambitions for B-Secur forward."