Australian automation technology provider Elenium Automation announced it has raised an additional A$10million in growth capital and appointed director Paula Dwyer as chairman. Dwyer, chair of Allianz, ex-chair of Tabcorp and current ANZ Board member, will help drive a new phase for Elenium as it focuses on deploying its identity automation technology. This is Dwyer’s only start-up board position, a role she has taken up because of Aaron Hornlimann’s vision and the broad applications for Elenium’s intellectual property and delivery capability, the company said.
“I am very excited to support Elenium as it embarks on a mass market strategy – they’re taking what they have built at scale for aviation through the VYGR products and applying it across industries. It’s a pivotal time for the company as the world reopens and the applications for its important technologies increase. I come from a background in highly regulated industries and one of my key objectives as Chairman will be to ensure the safe delivery of Elenium’s products – that data privacy, data management, and the ethical use of biometrics are key differentiators in our solutions,” Dwyer said.
Launched in 2015 with a vision to create a seamless airport experience, Elenium responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by heavily investing in its R&D and people to invent new touchless technologies that deliver a frictionless experience and keep people safe and confident wherever crowds gather in numbers, including entertainment, health, aged care and transport. The recent capital raise has been led by new investor Thorney Investment Group (Alex Waislitz), along with existing investors NRMA and Acorn Capital.
The funds will be used to drive the manufacture and roll-out of Faceway, Elenium’s newest product. Faceway is a massively scalable and affordable facial recognition technology manufactured in Australia that turns a person’s face into an access pass by simply taking a selfie. Designed initially for airports, this is being adopted by other large-scale environments that require mobility and ticketing management, including convention centers and a major Australian sporting code. It allows touchless and secure access for patrons, without the need to use their phone and eliminates the need for QR code check in.
Co-founder and CEO of Elenium Automation, Aaron Hornlimann, said: “It is wonderful to have someone of Paula’s caliber join our organisation, in addition to the investment by Thorney Investment Group and the ongoing support of our long-term investors, NRMA and Acorn. With COVID-19 having such a profound impact on the world, we have a shared vision to get people moving freely again and undoing the friction and annoyance that has been caused by COVID like QR code check in and vaccine passes. Using the technology we developed originally for airports, we can help make our everyday life experiences seamless. This is a very important time in Elenium’s evolution, and I look forward to having strong, experienced leadership from the Board and investors through this next growth phase.”
Melbourne-based Elenium now employs over 85 staff, designs, develops and manufactures in Australia and has installations across Asia Pacific, South East Asia, Hong Kong, India, Middle East, Africa, Europe and the USA.
For Editorial Inquiries Contact:
Editor Matt Driskill at matt.driskill@asianaviation.com
For Advertising Inquiries Contact:
Head of Sales Kay Rolland at kay.rolland@asianaviation.com
