San Diego-based speech recognition firm LumenVox and Munich-based voice recognition specialist VoiceTrust have merged to form a new company focused on offering speech-driven biometric authentication solutions.

The new company, which has not yet been named, is majority owned by Ramphastos Investments, a venture capital firm based in the Netherlands. In a statement, LumenVox and VoiceTrust explained that Ramphastos Investments provides their new, joint company “with the financial resources to continue to drive forward with innovation, service-expansion and quality of service.”

The merger arrives at a time of growing excitement about both companies’ specialties. Speech recognition technology is becoming increasingly important across a wide variety of devices as voice interaction emerges as a central user interface in the consumer market, and a range of businesses are also incorporate speech-driven AI technologies in their automated customer service systems.

Biometric authentication, meanwhile, is also becoming a preferred authentication mechanism in the consumer and enterprise sectors alike. By combining its voice recognition technology with facial recognition, VoiceTrust is capitalizing on a major new trend in the mobile sector in the wake of Apple’s introduction of its Face ID authentication system.

With these trends in play, the new company could be well positioned to market its solutions, once it has settled more essential matters such as coming up with a name for its brand.

(Originally posted on FindBiometrics)