Austria's MACO buys majority of fingerprint access firm ekey
What's the deal? MACO BeschlägeDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, the Salzburg-based maker of window and door fittings, is taking a majority stake in ekeyDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → biometric systems, the Linz company that builds fingerprint access systems for homes and businesses. The two Austrian firms did not disclose the stake size or price.
What each side brings: ekey, founded in 2002, calls itself Europe's leading fingerprint access provider. It employs about 80 people and exports to more than 70 countries. MACO, founded in 1947, employs about 2,300 people across six production sites and exports to more than 90 countries.
What's the endgame? The companies want to combine mechanics, automation and biometrics into connected building-access systems for homes and commercial sites. They say they have already worked together for years.
What changes? Little for customers in the near term. The ekey brand, product range, and partnerships with door, lock, and fittings makers stay in place.
Manuel Biechl, MACO's chief sales officer, and Michael Gallner-Holzmann, who represents ekey's founding family, take over as ekey's managing directors.
Why now? "The future of building access is digital, connected and convenient," Biechl said. Chief executive Mario Neuwirth said the stake takes the existing partnership "to the next level."
The signal: The deal fits a broader push to merge digital access and building systems — in October, engineering group IMIDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → agreed to buy building-automation provider iSMA CONTROLLI for €63 million. MACO's move is more targeted: it bolts fingerprint technology onto its hardware expertise rather than buying a broad software platform.
Read more: idtechwire.com
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
