face-recognition
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Wink Wanted to Kill the Password. Then It Found the Payment Rails.
Wink began with a clever premise: any ordinary camera could become a checkout credential. Its 2025 merger with Phoenix Managed Networks turned that identity layer into a payments business with real rails, real distribution and a much harder question about trust.
Sensory, Inc.
Sensory is a Santa Clara-based company that builds on-device AI for voice, sound, and biometrics. Since 1994 its embedded software has shipped in more than three billion consumer electronics, from toys and wearables to cars and smart speakers, giving devices the ability to listen, see, and verify without sending data to the cloud.
CANDY HOUSE
CANDY HOUSE, Inc. is the consumer-hardware company behind Sesame, the retrofit smart lock that mounts over an existing deadbolt with adhesive tape and turns a smartphone, fingerprint, card, PIN or face into a key. Founded in 2014 by Stanford engineer Jerming Gu and famous for a 2015 Kickstarter that raised about $1.4M, the company built an open ecosystem around SesameOS - locks, touch and face readers, a coin-sized Matter hub, sensors and finger robots - aimed at making smart-home access affordable, rental-friendly and developer-open.
Zenfolio Inc
Zenfolio is a SaaS platform built specifically for professional photographers, bundling portfolio websites, client galleries, proofing, print fulfillment, e-commerce, booking and studio-management tools into one system. Founded in 2005, it has served a community of hundreds of thousands of photographers worldwide and, under owner Centre Lane Partners, has rebuilt itself around an AI-driven 'NextZen' platform plus sibling brands Format, PhotoRefine.ai, PhotoBooker and Prints Marketplace.