Possesses fast and accurate facial recognition technology… Identifies 1 in 10 million people in 0.06 seconds
From the financial sector to mobile ID… Experienced by over 6 million people
Expanding business areas from non-face-to-face test supervision to unmanned kiosks
Mesacure Company is leading the digital identity verification market for financial institutions and public institutions based on facial recognition technology. A global research institute predicts that the digital identity verification market will grow to KRW 142 trillion by 2030.
Starting with Hana Bank, Mesacure Company has supplied facial recognition solutions to major financial institutions and has the largest number of references in the domestic financial sector. In 2022, it was selected as a mobile driver's license business operator by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and established itself as a key company in the national digital ID market. Since then, it has expanded its business to include national merit certificates and resident registration card businesses, and a cumulative total of over 6 million people have experienced Mesacure Company's facial recognition. It is currently expanding its scope to digital identity verification and mobile ID SaaS businesses.
Mesacure Company has won the Minister of Science and ICT Award and the Minister of Oceans and Fisheries Award, and was selected for SK Telecom and Hana Bank's 'AI Startup Accelerator 2nd Batch' in 2024. Since its establishment in 2020, it has attracted pre-A investment from Hana Bank and others, and secured an additional 8 billion won in Series A in 2022 and 1.5 billion won in the recent bridge round. Mesacure Company, which aims for a pre-IPO in 2026, is preparing to leap forward as a game changer in the global facial recognition market by expanding patent applications for facial and biometric composite authentication technology.
CEO Lee Ji-hoon has worked in IT strategy planning at Sambo Group's Durunet Shopping, NHN Korea Cyber Payment, and CJ ENM, while co-founder and CTO Song In-mok is leading technology development as a facial recognition AI technology expert.
■World-class facial recognition technology
Mesacure Company's core competitiveness lies in speed and accuracy. It has world-class facial recognition technology that identifies one person out of ten million in just 0.06 seconds, which is more than eight times faster than global leading companies. It extracts 512 feature points from eyebrows, eyes, nose, and lips as vectors to recognize faces, and can accurately recognize even when drunk or with a change in facial expression.
The representative explained, “Facial recognition is a more complex technology than iris recognition, and many companies fail to commercialize it because it is particularly difficult to measure distances and infer changes in facial expressions.” He added, “It is a strategic technology being developed primarily by military powers such as the United States, Russia, China, Japan, and South Korea.”
Mesacure Company has established a strong security system that effectively blocks fraud attempts using photos, videos, and fake biometrics. Instead of facial images, only feature points are compared, and data is compressed and stored so that it cannot be restored. Video data is immediately discarded, and only encrypted feature point data is stored to safely protect personal information. In addition, a dual security system has been established where facial recognition templates are divided and distributed to multiple servers and integrated only when authenticated.
■ Used for identity verification in the financial sector
Mesacure Company's core business is a digital identity verification (e-KYC) solution that matches an ID card with an actual face to verify the identity of the person. OCR technology extracts the ID card text and compares it with the issuing agency's data to check for forgery and falsification, and AI compares the ID card photo with a real-time captured face to determine the identity. Starting with Hana Bank, the solution is being expanded to Shinhan Bank, KB Kookmin Bank, etc. The market is expected to expand further in line with the Financial Supervisory Service's mandatory biometric authentication policy.
The representative explained, “We are participating in the mobile driver’s license, national merit certificate, and mobile resident registration card business after passing the rigorous performance test of the Telecommunications Technology Association (TTA). We have completed compatibility verification for 13 types of mobile devices, and are expanding our business beyond the financial sector to the public and private sectors.”
■ Participation in mobile ID business
After being recognized for its facial recognition technology in the financial sector, Mesacure Company expanded its business to include mobile ID cards after being selected as a mobile driver's license business operator by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety in 2022.
Mobile driver's licenses have a difficult technology verification process. This is because they have to go through a high level of tests for counterfeiting and forgery prevention due to the nature of ID cards. Mesacure Company's solution has been proven to have stable compatibility and a counterfeiting prevention rate of 0.85% in 13 mobile models. With this technology, Mesacure Company is currently supplying solutions to 24 domestic electronic signature business companies, and has now participated in the resident registration card business following driver's licenses and national merit certificates.
The representative emphasized the need for offline identity verification, saying, “Digital identity verification is essential online, but people still physically check their IDs when visiting banks or AS centers.” He added, “This process can lead to moral hazard, so it is necessary to expand the digital identity verification system offline.”
■ Expanding business areas online… Non-face-to-face test monitoring service
Mesacure Company's facial recognition technology is also recognized for its technological prowess online. The non-face-to-face test monitoring service developed by Mesacure Company verifies the identity of the test taker through facial recognition before the test begins, and continuously tracks the test taker's face during the test to detect in real time any behavior such as leaving the seat, switching with another person, or suspected cheating.
The non-face-to-face test monitoring service can supervise more than 20,000 people at the same time. It is used in KT's national coding test, Chinese character test, KBS Korean language proficiency test, etc., and the scope of application is expanding to university entrance and qualification exams. Currently, it is also preparing to enter the Japanese and Southeast Asian markets.
Compared to the existing supervisory part-time work method, it is evaluated that not only has labor costs been reduced, but more accurate and fair test management has become possible. In particular, it is evaluated that the reliability of the test has been greatly improved, such as a 75% decrease in cheating attempts.
The representative emphasized, “As non-face-to-face exams have increased due to COVID-19, preventing cheating has become an important issue. Previously, supervisors observed test takers through cameras, but it was difficult to supervise a large number of people at the same time. Mesacure Company’s system uses AI to detect all cheating in real time, allowing for more efficient and accurate supervision.”
■ Offline expansion… Unmanned KIOSK facial recognition system
Based on its success in the financial sector and public institutions, Mesacure Company is expanding its business offline. Mesacure Company’s unmanned KIOSK solution completes identity verification with just an ID card and facial scan, enabling unmanned access control and eliminating the inconvenience of having to leave your ID card.
“Once the patient completes identification at the kiosk, the reception is automatically completed and the treatment information is linked. This is having the effect of increasing the operational efficiency of the hospital and reducing waiting times,” the representative said, explaining the advantages of the unmanned kiosk facial recognition system.
Facial recognition technology is also being applied to construction site safety management systems that automate worker access control and attendance management. Mesacure Company plans to expand the scope of application to unmanned stores and liquor and cigarette vending machines in the future.
■ Growing into a digital identity verification platform
Mesacure Company plans to expand its business to various offline identity verification markets. It plans to strengthen security by linking with telecommunications company pass authentication and develop a function to prevent certificate theft, while also expanding biometric recognition functions to include ears, palms, etc. in addition to the frontal face, and to further advance the technology. Starting with the Vietnamese banking sector, it also plans to make full-scale inroads into the Southeast Asian market.
The representative said, “As social transparency increases, the digital identity verification market will expand in the following order: finance, public, medical, trade, and general business. In particular, demand is increasing due to the introduction of remote medical care and the issuance of mobile ID cards, and the scope of application is expected to expand to unmanned stores, adult authentication, and access control with kiosk-based identity verification. Automobiles will also be able to replace smart keys with facial recognition in the future, provide personalized indoor environments, and link with AI secretaries and payment systems,” and predicted that the identity verification market will grow even further.
■ “I want to contribute to the IT ecosystem with AI technology”
The mission, "METSAKUUR," is a combination of the Finnish word "forest" (mesa) and the Dutch word "to give strength" (kuur), and contains the meaning of contributing to the IT ecosystem with AI technology. The CEO explained, "Facial recognition is an independent, complete technology, but it is also an element technology that can be combined with other services, and the mission contains the fact that it is an ecosystem industry where various technologies are combined." He also presented a vision of "growing into a transparent company through a future IPO."
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