Pangiam, a portfolio company of the private equity firm AE Industrial (AEI) Partners, in March acquired an integrated facial recognition system from a Washington, D.C.-area airport authority that developed the system several years ago to meet Department of Homeland Security requirements to use biometrics to verify the departure of foreign nationals from the U.S. in accordance with their visa terms.

While veriScan was originally developed to meet the challenges of the biometric exit mandate that is still being implemented by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the camera technology has a wide range of uses in the airport and travel environment, Dan Tanciar, chief innovation officer with Pangiam, told

HSR in a recent interview.

VeriScan was developed by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority and is essentially a tablet computer mounted on a pole that takes a photo of travelers at an airline departure gate and connects with the airlines departure systems and CBP’s backend facial matching database to verify identities and permission to board a particular flight departing the U.S. The camera system is in use in at least several airports in the U.S.

Pangiam wants to expand and grow veriScan and “bring it to its next chapter,” Tanciar said. The next chapter could include deployments for security, bag drop, check-in and facility access, he said.

“The connectivity veriScan has built with airline departure control systems to enable one step boarding can be extended,” he said.

CBP’s biometric exit program is required for foreign nationals departing the U.S. on international flights and U.S. citizens can opt-out. Where the camera systems are installed, travelers leaving the U.S. through an airline departure gate essentially use their face as their travel document and if successfully matched against CBP’s Traveler Verification Service, proceed down jetway to board the aircraft.

The value of the veriScan deal wasn’t disclosed. Pangiam was formed last fall by AEI through the acquisitions of Linkware, LLC and PRE, LLC. This is the first acquisition by Pangiam.

In nutshell, Pangiam’s goal is to bring seamless travel to the overall travel experience. The small company provides consulting services, products, and technical support. One of the business that was brought together to form the company, Linkware, provides technical services and software to CBP for targeting and analysis.

Currently, there is little connectivity between airports, airlines and the government in the travel environment, Tanciar said, adding, “we want to help tackle those problems to truly get curb to gate experience in seamless, touchless safe way with privacy as part of our cornerstone.” He also said that there is a lot more room for biometrics to be deployed in this environment.

The experiences the Pangiam leadership team have combined with the company’s legacy capabilities will help it meet customers’ connectivity challenges, Tanciar said.

Tanciar is a former CBP official who among other things, worked on the biometric exit program with airlines, airports and cruise lines. Kevin McAleenan, Pangiam’s co-founder and chairman, was the Commissioner of CBP while biometric exit was rolling out and also served as acting Homeland Security Secretary.

Last May, Pangiam partnered with tech accelerator Dcode to form a trade and travel accelerator that works to help bring innovative technologies and the companies behind them into the travel space. The partnership currently has a topic for counter-drone systems that can help solve challenges for airports and the government, Tanciar said.

A company may have counter-unmanned aircraft system technology but might not understand how it can or can’t be used by an airport, he said. Pangiam can “bridge that knowledge gap,” he added.

The partnership will also introduce Pangiam to companies and their products, providing opportunities for new agreements to complement existing product offerings, Tanciar said.