The greatest validator for a successful startup’s technology is a customer.

For recently TSX-V listed Plurilock Security, they count the United States of America as one of the first to buy into their next-generation identity authentication technology.

This includes government contracts with the US Army and US Department of Defense. The company also announced this year its third contract with the US Department of Homeland Security to continue its development of authentication and anomaly detection tools. The true potential of Plurilock’s solution, based on behavioural biometrics and artificial intelligence (AI), is its ability to cross all borders, industry verticals and pre-existing commercial relationships.

“Our success with the U.S. federal government is really a reflection of our technology’s value. We didn’t have any government experience or relationships yet succeeded despite not being ingrained in this market which I think is even more impressive and powerful,” says Ian Paterson, CEO of Plurilock.

The U.S. federal government relationship is a great validator and made “people stand up and take note of what we’re doing,” adds Paterson. Plurilock’s solution is targeted to middle-market companies and larger, with a focus on financial services, health care, critical infrastructure and government sectors.

In September, Plurilock signed on a senior company in the financial services sector following an extensive series of proof-of-concept and testing deployments. Of note, the U.S.-based customer knocked on Plurilock’s door first. Plurilock is now expanding its sales and marketing resources to aggressively go after market share in the commercial space.

“We’ve seen a lot of traction in the financial services sector, specifically mid-sized institutions. It’s a mix of asset managers and regional banks. In the U.S., particularly for institutions in that 1,000 to 50,000 employee size, there is a real unmet need for innovative AI driven security products like ours. There are 3,000 institutions in the U.S. alone that are in our sweet spot.”

Plurilock’s next-generation technology solution focuses on identity and access management, a realm traditionally done with physical devices and PIN codes or passwords. Through behavioural capabilities, Plurilock’s products can authenticate people at the time of login as well as continuously throughout the day – always-on security.

Plurilock’s patent-protected technology is the result of more than 35,000 hours of university research by a team comprised of the foremost peer-reviewed experts in their field.  The company went public in September to scale growth through expanded and dedicated sales/marketing resources and strategic acquisitions.

“Cybersecurity is a team sport. You can’t as a business buy one cyber security solution and be safe. Larger companies may have two dozen different end-point solutions and need a whole team of cybersecurity vendors in order to be secure,” says Paterson. “We are seeing a trend toward vendor consolidation. For Plurilock, we want to add products and services to round out our offering.  We’re interested in building a big business here.”

Air Canada (TSX:AC) stock has been on a massive hot streak in recent weeks. Ever since Pfizer announced its vaccine had a 90% effectiveness rate, the stock has been soaring. Airlines stand to benefit from an end to the pandemic, so the recent price action is likely related to Pfizer’s announcement. The rally may also be related to AC’s third-quarter earnings, which showed a much smaller net loss than prior quarters.

So far, so good. A vaccine is coming, Air Canada is paring its losses, and AC stock is soaring. Sounds like a buy, right?

Maybe. But before you get too excited, it’s time for a reality check. We’re currently in the middle of a second wave of COVID-19 that once again threatens air travel. That includes travel within Canada as well as international travel. Just recently, Newfoundland and PEI announced that they were withdrawing from the “Atlantic travel bubble,” a regional agreement that allowed free travel within the Maritimes without self-isolation. That kind of thing tends to put a dent in airline revenues. And it seems to be accelerating.

A vaccine could take a while

Another factor investors need to be aware of is the fact that recent vaccine trials don’t mean that a vaccine will be widely available soon. A 90-95% effectiveness rate is definitely a good sign, but there are still all the regulatory and logistical issues that come with getting a vaccine to market. Regulators have to approve the vaccine, mass production needs to proceed, local jurisdictions need to procure their supplies. All of these things take time. This is one of the main reasons that public health experts are eying next spring for vaccine deployment, not December or January…CLICK for complete article