Amadeus is acquiring airport, airline and border control biometrics solutions provider Vision-Box for €320 million, the company announced.
Acquiring Vision-Box, which was founded in 2001 and reports use of its digital identity solutions in more than 100 countries around the world, will provide Amadeus with capabilities to “accelerate our growth” in the biometrics sector, according to Amadeus president of travel Decius Valmorbida. Vision-Box’s portfolio is “deeply complementary” to Amadeus’ own biometrics offerings, Valmorbida said, and the companies already have worked together, such as in a biometrics-based boarding program with Lufthansa.
“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,” Vision-Box founder and CEO Miguel Leitmann said in a statement. “This compelling value proposition will drive user experience, on-time performance, infrastructure usage, and other key indicators to new levels of efficiency.”
About 470 Vision-Box employees will join Amadeus as part of the acquisition, which is expected to close in the first half of this year pending regulatory approvals.