AUTHENTEQ EHF

Their core work

Authenteq is an Icelandic technology startup that built a fully automated, blockchain-based identity verification system for KYC (Know Your Customer) compliance. Their core product replaces manual identity checks with a mobile-first process that combines biometric scanning, computer vision forensics, and distributed ledger technology to verify users in real time. They target regulated industries — financial services, fintech, crypto exchanges — where AML/KYC compliance is mandatory but expensive to operate manually. Their H2020 trajectory shows a company that moved from concept validation to a commercially deployed product within three years.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their 2017 Phase 1 project was a lean feasibility study (€50,000) with no detailed technical keywords — the focus was proving the market case for blockchain-based KYC. By 2019, the Phase 2 project (€1.23M) shows a fully articulated technical stack: biometrics, computer vision forensics, mobile authentication, electronic ID, and distributed ledgers all appear as explicit capabilities. This is not a shift in direction but a deepening — the concept matured into a deployable product with well-defined components.

Authenteq was building toward a commercial identity-as-a-service product; any future collaboration would likely involve integrating their verified identity layer into larger digital service platforms or regulated financial infrastructure.

How they like to work

Authenteq operated exclusively as coordinator across both projects, with no participation in other consortia — a pattern typical of product-focused startups using the SME Instrument to fund their own roadmap rather than join external research teams. With only one recorded consortium partner across two projects, they work in extremely tight configurations, likely retaining full control over IP and product direction. Partners or clients seeking to work with them should expect a vendor or technology-licensor relationship rather than a co-development partnership.

Authenteq's H2020 network is minimal by design: one unique partner across two projects, all within a single country. This reflects their SME Instrument path, which funds a single company's innovation journey rather than broad collaborative research.

What sets them apart

Authenteq is one of the very few Icelandic tech SMEs to complete both phases of the EU SME Instrument in the identity verification space — a signal that EU evaluators found their commercial case credible, not just technically interesting. Their combination of blockchain infrastructure with computer vision forensics and mobile biometrics is more integrated than typical RegTech providers who address only one layer of the KYC stack. For consortium builders in fintech, digital government, or cybersecurity, they bring a deployable, compliance-tested identity component rather than a research prototype.

Highlights from their portfolio

• BlockchainKYC
  The Phase 2 award (€1,231,125) represents a successful SME Instrument Phase 1-to-Phase 2 progression — one of the more competitive EU funding paths — validating both the technology and the commercial model.
• BlockchainKYC
  The Phase 1 feasibility study (2017, €50,000) marks the earliest point in Authenteq's EU-funded development, establishing blockchain as the architectural choice before biometric and computer vision components were formally scoped.