In 2005, private equity firm L-1 Investment Partners put in motion a series of pivotal acquisitions that would transform the ID industry and create the premier global identity management company.
It began with a $100 million investment by L-1 Investment Partners in the face biometric, authentication and credentialing company Viisage. The mission: use Viisage as the platform upon which to assemble the industry’s best enabling technologies and services together into a set of offerings that better address the global need for secure ID. Since that time, the Company has made countless strategic acquisitions that have built a portfolio of solutions and services that have changed the industry and offered for the first time a better means of protecting personal identities and securing physical assets.
Strategic Acquisitions
Growth Milestones
2005
- L-1 Investment Partners makes strategic investment in the market via Viisage
- Investment used to add fingerprint services, enabling the processing of civilian enrollment and credentialing for government-licensed jobs
- Automated DMV knowledge testing capabilities added
- Robert V. LaPenta becomes Chairman of the Board of Viisage
2006
- Proposed merger of Viisage and Identix announced that will later form L-1 Identity Solutions
- Viisage adds iris recognition capabilities via the world’s first full-function handheld iris recognition and multi-modal biometric device
- Viisage acquires the intellectual property behind iris recognition technology
- Viisage and Identix merger approved; L-1 Identity Solutions is launched
- First government consulting service is added in human intelligence
2007
- Expands fingerprint enrollment service capabilities into Canada
- Information technology government services added
- Government consulting services enhanced with engineering and analytical services
2008
- New division added for enterprise access control solutions
- Secure credentialing solutions expanded via Digimarc Secure ID business