Fingerprint payment has arrived — continued

December 16, 2005 | Matt Marshall | Comments | |

paybytouch.gifTwo months ago, we wrote about how fingerprint payment, long talked about, had finally arrived.

San Francisco start-up, Pay By Touch Solutions, announced $130 million in financing as it planned to roll out a way for you to use your fingerprint to pay for groceries and other goods and services.

It has since shown it is pretty serious about its pledge to be in some San Francisco areas retailers by first quarter of next year. Lately, it has gone on a pretty impressive acquisition binge. Take a look at these announcements; they are being made every couple of days. It is buying up companies that will help it market other goods to you, based on your preferences — all linked to your fingerprint. So, for example, when you’re in a restaurant, it will potentially know you like green tea, and offer you a premium Chinese brand at a discount, etc.

Yesterday, it announced it had acquired two more companies, including 7th Street Software, of Berkeley, which is backed by Alafi Capital.

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Matt Marshall is editor and CEO of VentureBeat. Follow him on Twitter at @mmarshall, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.

  • Very promising indeed.

    --An avid Internet browser
  • BTW..I think you'd have to define a custom comment pending template in case you are holding them for moderation.

    Currently, the following error is returned.

    An error occurred
    You must define a Comment Pending template.

    --An avid Internet browser
  • DK
    I cannot help but marvel at what these guys have done. Raised a ton of money on vaporware and used it to buy companies with real businesses.
  • Cool !! ... Now, I don't need to steal your credit card. Just need the 'Alias' gizmos to get your fingerprints off your coffee mug.
  • DK
    Exactly. The best thing is once a fingerprint is stolen it cannot be replaced! DoD calls it "logical amputation". Enjoy!
  • Hmmm, I watch TV too and I have heard of fingerprint readers that need a warm and ideally-not-fuzzy finger to accept the fingerprint... some can even read the capillaries under the skin which are unique.