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January 29, 2006
Germany's it-werke And Pay By Thumb
San Francisco-based biometrics start-up Pay By Touch has tapped deep-pocketed hedge funds to finance its rollup of smaller rivals and add on the bits of technology it doesn’t have. If it looks to Europe for acquisitions, it won't exactly have a lot of choice. There is only one company on our radar that is making a go of fingerprint-based payments, it-werke, based in Lahr, Germany, located near the Swiss and French borders.
Founded in 2000 it-werke developed its fingerprint scanning technology initially to authenticate online payments, but found that adoption was faster amoung business that wanted to use it for access to buildings and enterprise networks. It recently began to tap the German retail market.
Although the idea of storing your fingerprint anywhere scares some people, we like the concept: no PIN code to remember, no card to worry about losing. Besides, it-werke says its scanning method is not based on the same one used to legally identify a person, it is based on comparing 24 points on the surface of the finger that are unique to an individual.
Either it-werke supplies all employees with the same make and model of vehicle, or this photo was taken in a used car lot.
Read -SAN FRANCISCO, CA Pay By Touch Has Raised More Than $60M in Series C (Biometrics)
Posted on January 29, 2006 08:42 AM | Posted to Biometrics | Permalink
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