ZUG, Switzerland & GENEVA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--WISeKey International Holding Ltd (“WISeKey” or the “Company”) (SIX:WIHN), a leading Swiss cybersecurity and IoT company, announced today that it is continuing its top and bottom line growth, started after the listing of the Company’s Class B Shares on the SIX Swiss Exchange on 31 March, 2016. Since then, WISeKey has achieved significant milestones in the implementation of its vision and strategy to become a global leading Vertical Cybersecurity Platform company by integrating Root of Trust, eIDS, IoT, AI and Blockchain to provide unique end-to-end services to its clients.
WISeKey’s strategy to evolve into a major player on the IoT, Cybersecurity, AI and Blockchain market implies a constant evaluation of potential add-on acquisitions, development of new IP and patents. In just one year, WISeKey has aggregated over 46 patent families (more than 200 patents in total) to its portfolio (https://www.wisekey.com/patents/) required to integrate the OISTE/WISeKey Root of Trust into IoT embedded devices with problem-solving Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) solutions. For WISeKey, adding to its patent portfolio and intellectual property is key to ensuring that the company will remain a major player in the “DeepTech” for years to come. Its patent portfolio allows WISeKey to distinguish itself from other companies that use commonly available technology; WISeKey focuses on integrating unique technology that is differentiated, protected and hard to reproduce based on tangible scientific discoveries or engineering innovations.
The new patents cover a range of technologies for IoT and semiconductors, particularly those that help make enterprise-level computing services more trusted, reliable and secure. The most notable patent acquisition by WISeKey on IoT and semiconductors happened in 2016 when the company purchased 17 new IoT patents from Inside Secure, which at the time allowed WISeKey to create the first ever comprehensive trusted end-to-end cybersecurity platform for people and objects (IoT). Following this acquisition, WISeKey’s cybersecurity offerings includes certified hardware & software, system certification, provisioning and up to management of cybersecurity services.
This new strategy has allowed WISeKey to significantly increase its revenue from USD1.3 million reported in the H1 2016 and USD11.6 million consolidated revenues for FY2016, to approximately USD20 million (unaudited) preliminary revenue in H1 2017. Over 2/3 of the H1 2017 revenues were generated by the newly acquired IoT Cybersecurity business which has become the fastest growing business segment of the Company, a trend which is expected to continue for the rest of 2017.
During the last 12 months WISeKey has increased its global workforce in all geographic regions and businesses. Headcount grew from 15 employees in June 2016 to 180 in June 2017.
Focus area of investments and fastest growing segment for WISeKey this year is the Internet of Things (IoT) and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Revenues generated by this segment continues to increase due to the new generation of IoT Chips, sensor-based identification, authentication and data and creating AI for analytically rich data sets. What has emerged during the first half of 2017, is only a glimpse into how the IoT and IIoT technology used in solving complex logistics, manufacturing, services and supply chain problems, can deliver the most value for WISeKey.
Following the successful establishment of several joint ventures in emerging markets such as India and Argentina, WISeKey continuously explores opportunities to expand geographically, especially in high growth Cybersecurity markets such as China and the USA and is working on establishing WISeKey joint ventures to operate under WISeKey’s National Root of Trust including a localization of the technology in these markets. Of note, WISeKey India is already working in expanding the reach of WISeKey AI project, WISeAI, by integrating the WISeKey Indian Root of Trust and IoT embedded devices with problem-solving AI solution into WISeKey’s Vertical Platform.
During 2017 WISeKey has also expanded into Blockchain and AI with the establishment on Center of Excellency in India, USA, Argentina, Switzerland and China. Via these Centers of Excellence, WISeKey is cooperating with local participating companies, on building points of view, proof of concepts, policies, educational materials including addressing all the distributed ledger capabilities across different Blockchain schemes (public, consortium and private), with industry verticalization and domain specialization (IoT, AI, encrypted transactions, messaging, etc.), underpinned by the best underlying technologies from startups, our key partners and from the community.
Another important area of development for 2017 is the use of AI at the chip level together with the WISeKey RoT which allows IoT to provide authenticated sensor data. Current IoT data do not provide value for their manufacturers unless it can be converted into actionable, contextualized information generated by IoT sensors fully identifiable. The majority of IoT devices are not built with embedded secured systems thus are very vulnerable to hackers. By integrating AI into the WISeKey RoT and Vertical Platform, objects can develop their own cybersecurity behavior, thus making smarter and safer decisions. IoT objects with this technology will learn from attacks, defend themselves and transfer this intelligence via the WISekey Vertical Platform to other IoT objects peer to peer using a Blockchain.
About WISeKey:
WISeKey (SIX Swiss Exchange:WIHN) is a leading global cybersecurity company currently deploying large scale digital identity ecosystems with a patented process. OISTE/WISeKey’s Swiss based cryptographic Root of Trust (“RoT”) provides secure authentication and identification, in both physical and virtual environments, for the Internet of Things, Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence. The WISeKey RoT serves as a common trust anchor to ensure the integrity of online transactions among objects and between objects and people. For more information, visit www.wisekey.com.
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Disclaimer:
This communication expressly or implicitly contains certain forward-looking statements concerning WISeKey International Holding Ltd and its business. Such statements involve certain known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could cause the actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of WISeKey International Holding Ltd to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. WISeKey International Holding Ltd is providing this communication as of this date and does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
This press release does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities, and it does not constitute an offering prospectus within the meaning of article 652a or article 1156 of the Swiss Code of Obligations or a listing prospectus within the meaning of the listing rules of the SIX Swiss Exchange. Investors must rely on their own evaluation of WISeKey and its securities, including the merits and risks involved. Nothing contained herein is, or shall be relied on as, a promise or representation as to the future performance of WISeKey.
