Technology/Services

VeriFone Increases Stake in Payment Card Security Company

Doubles investment in Semtek to create card encryption industry standard
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- VeriFone Holdings Inc. said that it has signed an agreement to become the lead investor in a Series B financing of Semtek Corp., and has doubled its investment in the security technology developer and acquired an option at a future date to purchase the remaining shares in Semtek.

Additionally, VeriFone and Semtek have entered into an expanded, worldwide distribution agreement which provides for open-licensing of the Semtek encryption technology to all other point-of-sale (POS) hardware vendors.

Semtek is the developer of encryption technology that [image-nocss] is the core element of VeriFone's VeriShield Protect end-to-end encryption solution for securing cardholder data. Based on the AES standard, Semtek's technology ensures that the encrypted card data can be used by a typical point-of-sale software system without any modifications or disruption.

In September, VeriFone entered into a marketing agreement with RBS Worldpay to make VeriShield Protect a preferred security platform for RBS customers and is currently negotiating similar arrangements with other payment processors. Additionally, several national retailers have recently selected VeriShield Protect as the platform of choice for fixed-format encryption of credit card data in their enterprises.

"We are very pleased with our growing relationship and look forward to continued success and market traction," said VeriFone CEO Douglas G. Bergeron.

Semtek CEO Patrick Hazel said, "We are delighted to complete this latest round of funding with VeriFone, Venrock Capital, and RRE Ventures. Our newly expanded relationship with VeriFone will accelerate the worldwide adoption of our technology."

Semtek has been a leader in magnetics technology since 1999, serving large public and private sector clients who require secure data capture components for their fixed-base and wireless devices. Since 2004, Semtek has been focused on resolving the security deficiencies of magnetic stripe based payment systems and is playing an increasingly central role in the development of end to end security architectures for merchants and payment processors.

VeriFone Holdings is a global leader in secure electronic payment solutions. It provides expertise, solutions and services that add value to the point of sale with merchant-operated, consumer-facing and self-service payment systems for the financial, retail, hospitality, petroleum, government and healthcare vertical markets. VeriFone solutions are designed to meet the needs of merchants, processors and acquirers in developed and emerging economies worldwide.

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