Entrust, a global leader in trusted identity, payments and data protection, today announced that it has acquired WorldReach Software, a Canadian company that helps governments and travel service providers create seamless traveler experiences through the digital transformation of the trusted identification process for immigration and border management programs.
Ottawa-based WorldReach was founded in 1998 and its over 30 employees have joined Entrust with the acquisition, including founder and CEO, Gordon Wilson, who continues to lead WorldReach as an Entrust business. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“The ability to verify identity and manage trusted access digitally is the key to transforming travel and citizen services around world. WorldReach is a great fit for Entrust, with deep experience in identity verification and digital onboarding solutions implemented at scale for governments and global travel providers. With the WorldReach acquisition, Entrust can help these organizations reshape government and travel service experiences around secure digital identities,” said Todd Wilkinson, CEO of Entrust.
Governments, border authorities and the travel industry are accelerating efforts to modernize digital services to citizens and travelers to be more touchless, seamless and efficient. WorldReach has leveraged expertise and innovative identity and document verification technology to enable government agencies and travel service providers to reach these goals.
Examples include Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) and enrollment for security screening, arrival and border security; a “zero touch” customs and border management solution; and a digital onboarding program for immigration that uses remote identity verification with ePassport chip reading and liveness detection, used by more than five million people to date.
“We see tremendous opportunity to leverage digital identity and encryption technology in innovative ways to make the experience of travel, border crossing, immigration and other citizen services more secure, safe and seamless.
As part of Entrust, WorldReach customers will benefit from the opportunity to integrate proven Entrust technology and expertise in digital travel credentials, PKI and certificate solutions and identity and access management,” said Gordon Wilson, WorldReach founder and vice president and Global Lead for Seamless Travel at Entrust.
Entrust will leverage its global reach and professional services to extend opportunities of WorldReach services to positively impact tens of millions of digital interactions annually for travelers and citizens. “Entrust is a world leader in data security and digital and physical credentials.
By adding the WorldReach team, we extend our ability to serve government and large enterprise customers, particularly in the international travel sector. In the wake of the global pandemic and the drive for safe and rapid digital transformation to serve travelers and citizens around the world, these services are more relevant than ever,” said Tony Ball, SVP of Instant Issuance at Entrust.
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WorldReach solutions focus on Digital Identity Verification and Onboarding; the Safe & Seamless Traveler Journey; and Government Travel and Citizen Services. The company has deep expertise in ICAO-compliant secure travel and identity document issuance that underpins leading remote digital identity and document verification solutions.
The company was named to The (Toronto) Globe and Mail’s 2020 ranking of Canada’s Top Growing Companies, and the Ottawa Business Journal ranked the company eight among its 2021 Fastest Growing Companies.
Juniper Research profiled WorldReach as a Leading Challenger in digital identity in its report “Digital Identity: Technology Evolution, Regulatory Landscape & Forecasts 2020-2025,” noting that:
“WorldReach is in a strong position in the verifiable credential space…This is being evidenced by WorldReach’s involvement in the UK government’s EU national immigration status checks and as part of the new ‘Digital Travel Credentials’ (DTC) standards. WorldReach’s position is strong, as border checks are becoming part of the digital transformation of governments and airports. WorldReach, as a company, is well placed to either take part as a point solution, or be woven into the wider ecosystems that handle travelers and other government IDs.”
Sampford Advisors acted as the exclusive M&A advisor to WorldReach Software. Dentons Canada LLP served as legal counsel to Entrust, and LaBarge Weinstein LLP served as legal counsel to WorldReach on the transaction.
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