CCS12

What CCS12 does

CCS12 is a French fintech company founded in April 2019 and headquartered in Marseille, operating internationally with self-reported presence in 10+ countries and 20+ offices, primarily across Europe and Africa. The company sells a patented payment-card authentication platform that combines a physical layer — the Cardan Grid, a transparent pre-perforated overlay that hides the card's four sensitive digits — with a dynamic QR Code that cardholders scan via their banking app to validate each transaction. This 'phygital' two-factor model is protected by three granted patents covering the EU, the Americas, Africa, and major Asian markets, and has been validated by both Visa and Mastercard.

The platform has expanded beyond point-of-sale authentication into four integrated modules covering online (card-not-present) payments, wire transfers, digital wallet enrollment with Apple Pay and Google Pay, and contactless payment authentication. A predictive AI layer for real-time anomaly detection has been added on top of the physical authentication core. CCS12 targets three primary segments — banks and financial institutions, e-merchants, and individual cardholders — with a B2B enterprise sales motion anchored on a 'Request a demo' conversion mechanism and multi-year licensing contracts.

The business model is enterprise licensing of patented technology to banks and financial institutions, with technology embedded at card issuance and integrated into banking applications; pricing is not publicly disclosed. Named visible customers and partners include UBA, GTBank, Africa Bank, Orange Bank, Orangemoney, and Nafalo. Revenue, funding history, and ownership are not disclosed in available sources, and the company appears to operate as an independent private entity.

Name

CCS12

Legal name

CCS12 France Inc TM

Website

https://ccs12.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

CCS12 is a French fintech founded in 2019 that licenses a patented phygital authentication platform (Cardan Grid + dynamic QR Code) to banks, e-merchants, and cardholders to prevent card-present and card-not-present fraud across Europe and Africa.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Payment Security Software

NAICS

Credit Card Issuing (522210)

SIC

Finance Services (6199)

akta.pro primary industry

General Purpose Credit Cards (FSAKABAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

QR Code Payments Wallets (FSAMAEAC), Secured Credit Cards (FSAKABAD)

Keywords

• Payment security
• Fraud prevention
• Card authentication
• Transaction validation
• Banking security

Headquarters

HQ city

Marseille

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. B2B Licensing to Financial Institutions: CCS12 licenses its patented authentication technology to banks and financial institutions. The solution is embedded during card issuance and integrated with the banking application, providing dual revenue potential through licensing fees and per-transaction authentication fees.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

CCS12 licenses a patented 'phygital' payment authentication platform to banks, financial institutions, and e-merchants. The solution embeds a transparent Cardan Grid overlay and a dynamic unique QR Code on payment cards, combined with a banking-app-based scan, to deliver absolute two-factor authentication for Card-Present and Card-Not-Present transactions, wire transfers, and digital wallet enrollments.

Product overview

CCS12 is a Fintech company offering a unified, patented payment card security platform built around two core patented technologies: the Cardan Grid (a transparent overlay that masks the card's 4 sensitive digits against a dynamic random digit table) and a unique dynamic QR Code (scanned via the banking app for physical transaction validation). Together these form a phygital (physical+digital) two-factor authentication system. The platform is delivered as a single product line anchored by the CCS12 Payment Card Security Solution, which encompasses four integrated modules: Online Payment Security, Wire Transfer Authentication, Wallet Enrollment Authentication, and Contactless Payment Authentication. The Cardan Grid Technology and QR Code Authentication are the two foundational patented sub-technologies that underpin all modules, making the portfolio a platform with shared core IP rather than independent standalone products.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• CCS12 Payment Card Security Solution A patented payment card security platform that combines the Cardan Grid (a transparent overlay masking the card's sensitive digits) with a unique dynamic QR Code to deliver two-factor phygital authentication of transactions at point-of-sale and online. Sold to banks, financial institutions, and e-merchants seeking to reduce fraud and comply with regulatory standards.
• Cardan Grid Technology A patented transparent perforated grid that, when overlaid on a table of random digits generated by the payment card, reveals only the digits required for transaction authentication. Codes change with every transaction, rendering copying or phishing attempts ineffective.
• QR Code Authentication A patented unique QR Code displayed on the payment card that the user scans with their smartphone via the banking app to confirm identity and validate each purchase, providing a physical anti-phishing layer on top of digital authentication.
• Online Payment Security Module Secures online card-not-present transactions by combining digital authentication via the banking app with physical QR Code scanning, replacing SMS-OTP or basic 3D Secure validation with dual-factor phygital authentication. Sold to banks, payment processors, and online merchants.
• Wire Transfer Authentication Module Secures bank wire transfers by requiring the sender to scan their personal CCS12 QR Code via the banking app before a transfer is finalized, ensuring sender identity is verified with absolute certainty. Sold to banks.
• Wallet Enrollment Authentication Module

Quantifiable outcome

• Reduces Card-Present and Card-Not-Present fraud
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

AI capability1 record

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• VisacoreTechnology or IntegrationCCS12 technology has been validated by Visa. The company's QR Code authentication and phygital security approach is recognized and compatible with Visa's payment ecosystem. CCS12 appears in Visa partner contexts and is referenced as a Visa-recognized security technology for online payments. This validation is a key trust signal for financial institution customers.
• MastercardcoreTechnology or IntegrationCCS12 technology has been validated by Mastercard. The company's authentication solution is recognized and compatible with Mastercard's SecureCode ecosystem and 3D Secure protocols. This validation provides credibility for CCS12's go-to-market efforts with banks issuing Mastercard-branded cards.
• UBA (United Bank for Africa)coreTechnology or IntegrationUBA is shown as a partner/customer logo on CCS12's website. UBA is one of Africa's largest financial institutions and has deployed CCS12's payment security technology on its cards to protect customer transactions across its pan-African network.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• BioCatch: BioCatch specializes in behavioral biometrics for fraud prevention in banking and e-commerce, analyzing user interactions to detect account takeover and social engineering. It addresses the same fraud-prevention budget that CCS12 targets, with a complementary (not identical) technical approach.
• Daon: Daon provides identity verification and biometric authentication for financial services and digital onboarding. It overlaps with CCS12 in customer authentication for banking, with a different (biometric-first) technology approach.
• Feedzai: Feedzai provides AI-driven fraud detection and prevention for banking and payments, including real-time transaction risk scoring. It is comparable to CCS12 as a technology layer deployed by banks to authenticate and risk-score transactions, though it leans software-only rather than physical.
• Onfido: Onfido delivers AI-based identity verification and KYC for banks and fintechs. It is adjacent to CCS12 because both serve bank-driven fraud-prevention use cases at customer onboarding and transaction time.

Direct peers

• Entersekt: Entersekt provides strong customer authentication and transaction security solutions to banks and financial institutions, including mobile-based authentication and 3D Secure enhancements. It is a direct peer given its focus on bank-grade payment authentication and PSD2/SCA compliance — the same customer base and regulatory driver as CCS12.
• OneSpan: OneSpan offers authentication, fraud detection, and digital identity solutions for banks and enterprises, including mobile transaction signing and secure customer onboarding. It competes with CCS12 in the bank authentication and transaction-verification category with overlapping regulatory-compliance value propositions.

Broad incumbents

• Thales Digital Identity & Security: Thales offers payment card issuance, EMV chips, and digital identity and security solutions for banks and payment networks. It is comparable as a security technology supplier embedded in card production and bank authentication flows.
• NICE Actimize: NICE Actimize is a large incumbent in financial crime, AML, and fraud prevention software used by global banks. It represents the enterprise incumbent alternative CCS12 competes against for authentication and fraud budget within large financial institutions.
• RSA Security (a business of RSA LLC): RSA provides adaptive authentication, fraud intelligence, and risk-based authentication for banking and enterprise customers. It competes for the same fraud-prevention and authentication budget as CCS12, particularly with banks seeking established vendor risk profiles.
• IDEMIA: IDEMIA is a major provider of payment cards, secure credentials, and biometric identification for financial institutions. It overlaps with CCS12 at the physical-card-and-authentication layer for issuing banks, with broader scale and incumbent relationships.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/CCS126
• Facebookfacebook.com/ccs12org
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ccs12

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about CCS12