Venture investment for heartbeat

On September 24, 2014, Canadian startup Bionym announced that it had received $ 14 million in Series A venture financing , including from Ignition Partners, Relay Ventures, MasterCard and Salesforce Ventures. The question is, what exactly caused such a vigorous activity of investors? This is just a little cute gadget - a Nymi bracelet, with a built-in electrocardiogram removal sensor.



Nymi developers explain that each person has a unique heart rhythm. As with fingerprints, also with a cardiogram, it is possible to recognize a certain person relatively reliably. In Bionym terminology, the identity identifier is called HeartID.
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Nymi performs three-factor biometric authentication . To verify your identity, the user must:

1. have a personal bracelet;
2. have a smartphone with a personal code in the application Nymi;
3. have a pulse that matches the pattern.

Nymi bracelet designers managed to squeeze the electrocardiogram (ECG) sensors into a compact bracelet format. The accompanying electronics, which processes the signal, as well as the accelerometer with a gyroscope for gesture recognition, also housed there.



A person's heartbeat is characterized by several parameters: frequency, rhythm, filling, voltage, amplitude of oscillation, pulse shape (speed). Most of these characteristics depend on the physical condition. The electrocardiograph does not register everything, but this is not required. Cardiogram is just one of the three-factor authentication parameters. Here, a small percentage of false positives is allowed: this is offset by the remaining parts of the three-factor scheme.

The developers explain that the recording of the reference sample of the electrocardiogram is carried out after the first putting on the bracelet. This should be done in a calm state, sober, without excitement.

The electrocardiograph is activated at the moment when the user touches the metal plate on the face of the bracelet with his other hand - and thereby closes the circuit of the movement of current through his body.

After putting on the bracelet, it immediately removes the ECG and compares it with the saved sample recorded earlier. In the event of a match, it sends a wireless signal to other devices that request confirmation of the user's identity. Successful authorization bracelet signals the vibration and blinking of the LED.

The bracelet replaces all keys, bank cards, badges in the office, etc. He touched the bracelet and opened the trunk in the car. He touched it again and the car started up. The video shows how in the hotel room all the surrounding gadgets automatically turn on and recognize the identity of the person who (with the bracelet) entered the room.



The bracelet performs authorization on the computer network, logs in to the sites, unlocking the tablet and smartphone. Do not need any pincode, passwords, and more. Unlike the password, the heart will not forget and not lose.

The developers propose to use the bracelet not only as a universal key for all devices and a password for the computer, but also as a wallet. It is not surprising that MasterCard is among the venture capital investors. This means that Nymi is considered as a potential replacement for payment cards. Imagine that you can pay in a store or in a taxi by hand, simply by bringing your wrist to the terminal. Nymi software supports Bitcoin.

The site accepts pre-orders for Nymi for $ 79. Over 10,000 pre-orders for bracelets have already been received. Surely, such demand was one of the factors that led investors to invest in a startup and finally bring the bracelet to the stage of mass production.