UK cybersecurity firm Zamna raises $5m

UK cybersecurity firm Zamna (formerly named VChain Technology) has raised a $5m seed funding round led by venture capital firms LocalGlobe and Oxford Capital, alongside Seedcamp, the London Co-Investment Fund (LCIF), Telefonica, and a number of influential angel investors.

Participation also comes from existing investor International Airlines Group, which has since become Zamna’s first commercial client.

Zamna also recently started working with Emirates Airline and the UAE’s General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners (GDRFA) to deliver a seamless check-in and transit experience for passengers travelling through Emirates Airline airports.

This is the first time a government authority has collaborated with an airline as part of a joint vision for improving airport security, enabled through Zamna’s data verification technology.

Zamna’s blockchain-powered data verification platform verifies and connects the passenger data sets currently silo-ed between airlines, governments and security agencies, reducing the need for checks by up to 90 percent.

The aspiration is that as more passenger identities are verified digitally over time and shared securely between parties – the airport security process will become automated and passengers will be able to travel through the airport without needing any physical documentation or repeated ID checks.

Irra Ariella Khi, co-founder and CEO of Zamna, said: “We know that currently airlines are not able to meet the legal requirement of providing accurate data to governments around the world.

“For airport security to successfully become frictionless through biometric capabilities, the first step is to have access to 100% accurate and trustworthy passenger data. Zamna is delivering on this – built on a ‘privacy by design’ framework, it ensures that airlines and governments get accurate, trustworthy data in advance of a passenger travelling, enabling the traveller can get through the airport without multiple identity checks.”

Remus Brett, Partner at LocalGlobe, added: “The team at Zamna has built a platform that will play a major part in the future of travel and aviation security. With passenger numbers expected to double in the next 20 years, new technology-driven solutions are the only way airlines, airports and governments will be able to cope.

“We’re delighted to be working with the Zamna team and believe they can play a key role in addressing these challenges.”