Pay By Touch
Pay By Touch was a company founded by John P Rogers.[1] It was a privately held company which enabled consumers to pay for goods and services with a swipe of their finger on a biometric sensor. It allowed secure access to checking, credit card, loyalty, healthcare, and other personal information, through the unique characteristics of an individual's biometric features, thereby creating a highly secure anti-identity theft platform.
The company was based in San Francisco, California with 10 offices worldwide. Over time it raised more than $340 million in venture finance investments.[2] By 2007, investors in Pay By Touch included former National Football League players Drew Bledsoe and Rick Mirer.[3]
In 2006, Pay By Touch acquired competitor, BioPay LLC.[4] At the time of the acquisition BioPay had more than two million enrolled consumers and offered both biometric payments and biometric-based payroll check cashing.
Pay By Touch had over 800 employees and provided retailers with products in biometric financial transactions, biometric age verification, loyalty and personalized marketing, and payment processing. On March 19, 2008, without notifying its customers, Pay By Touch shut down and is no longer in operation. A group of investors later sued financial services firm UBS, alleging that they had encouraged clients to invest in Pay By Touch without revealing information about the criminal history of the company's founder.[3]
All check cashing assets were acquired in 2008 by Phoenix Check Cashing, Inc.[5] In 2009, Phoenix Check Cashing changed its dba name from BioPay Paycheck Secure to AllTrust Networks.
Much of the assets of Pay By Touch are now owned by YOU Technology.
[edit] External links
- Pay By Touch company website, no longer operable
[edit] References
- ^ Matt Marshall (2007-11-12). "John-P-Rogers". Venture Beat. http://venturebeat.com/2007/11/12/pay-by-touch-in-trouble-founder-filing-for-bankruptcy/.
- ^ Lance Williams (2008-12-07). "How 'visionary' raised - and lost - a fortune". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/06/MNIK147QU3.DTL.
- ^ a b Pablo S. Torre (2009-03-23). "How (and Why) Athletes Go Broke". Sports Illustrated. http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1153364/3/index.htm.
- ^ "Pay By Touch Completes Acquisition of BioPay". PR Newswire. 2006-01-16. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pay-by-touch-completes-acquisition-of-biopay-53546437.html.
- ^ "Pay By Touch Auctions off ATM Direct, BioPay Paycheck Secure". Digital Transactions. 2008-03-07. http://digitaltransactions.net/news/story/1703.
- http://www.biometricpayments.blogspot.com - Pay By Touch Blog
- WKYC, October 20, 2006 - 'Pay by Touch' lets your fingers pay for groceries
- AMR Research, Thursday, December 08, 2005 - Pay by Touch To Acquire BioPay: Pointing at Retail Biometrics
- The Midcounties Co-operative - Pay By Touch Goes Live in the UK at The Midcounties Co-operative - Finger-touch payment system available at three Oxford locations
- Cooperatives UK, 2006 - Pay By Touch Goes Live in the UK - Shoppers and members at The Midcounties Co-operative now have the option of quickly and securely paying for their groceries using a finger scan linked to their bank account.
