Amadeus has acquired biometric technology specialist Vision-Box for €320 million.
The acquisition brings border control and other biometric access solutions to Amadeus, widening its capabilities to offer services from traveler booking to border control and boarding.
In a statement Amadeus said the acquisition of Portugal-based Vision-Box furthers its “ambition to connect the travel industry through a seamless ecosystem approach.”
It points to research from Biometrics Research Group that revealed that the global biometrics sector is estimated to grow to $86 billion by 2028 from $48 billion last year.
Employees from Vision-Box, totaling 470, are expected to move to Amadeus and the transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2024. The company is expected to make €70 million in revenue in 2023 with almost €20 million in EBITDA.
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Decius Valmorbida, president, travel at Amadeus, said: “Biometrics is a strategic and fast-growing industry, and Vision-Box’s capabilities will allow us to accelerate our growth in this area. With a portfolio which is deeply complementary to our existing offering for both airports and airlines, our combined best-in-class solutions will now deliver a seamless passenger journey from booking to boarding. This acceleration of our ecosystem approach will bring immediate and tangible benefits to our customers and travelers: it’s how travel works better.”
Vision-Box provides solutions for airlines, airports, cruise lines and seaports. The company said it operates in more than 100 countries and accounts for 30% of the market of border control globally.
In 2020, the company announced a partnership with AirAsia to develop automated bag drop services, roving technology for temperature checks and biometric facial recognition systems.
Prior to that, Vision-Box worked with Lufthansa and Amadeus to launch biometric boarding at Los Angeles International Airport with a plan to extend the technology to further airports across the United States.
Miguel Leitmann, founder ad CEO of Vision-Box, added: “I’m extremely excited about the growth opportunities for Vision-Box as we join Amadeus, a leading travel technology player with a global footprint. Together we can deliver the next big step in the travel experience: to unite all separate players and systems in a single, digitally- integrated, and orchestrated ecosystem. This compelling value proposition will drive user experience, on-time-performance, infrastructure usage, and other key indicators to new levels of efficiency.”
