While various companies are reeling from the disruptive effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Zwipe is staying its course and proceeding as planned, the fingerprint biometrics specialist suggests in its Q1 2020 operational update.

Zwipe’s overarching plan is still to establish itself as a leader player in the emerging biometric payment and smart cards space, and to that end, the company says it “is now in direct dialogue or conducting projects with over 40 of the world’s top 50 smart card manufacturers”, including eight of the world’s top 10. And the company appears to be establishing such partnerships at a brisk pace, asserting that even in March, it was working with 29 smart card manufacturers.

As for COVID-19, Zwipe says that it rapidly adapted to the pandemic in terms of pivoting to remote work strategies and other such adjustments, and as a result, COVID-19 “has so far not caused any significant disruptions or delays to Zwipe’s current operational, strategic or financial objectives.”

Indeed, the company suggests it may even have a beneficial effect, as “it has highlighted the hygienic benefits” of contactless, biometric payment cards.

The fiscal picture does not yet reflect this beneficial effect, however, with biometric payment cards still primarily in the developmental phase, and no large-scale commercial deployments yet. As such, Zwipe’s revenues for the quarter came in at NOK 0.4 million, thanks to specific, non-recurring engineering work. Cash outflow, meanwhile, has improved sequentially, at NOK 5.9 million, compared to NOK 8.8 million in Q4 of 2019; and Zwipe’s cost reduction program is already yielding results, with the company saying that spending for Q1 was lower than in previous quarters, and Q2 will see the program’s full effect.

Commenting on the company’s prospects for the months ahead, Zwipe CEO André Løvestam said, “We are doing everything in our power to build and maintain strong relationships with our industry-leading partners that will create sustainable long-term commercial opportunities for themselves and Zwipe going forward.”