In supermarkets, fast foods or specialized brands, checkout remains a point of friction with its forgotten wallets, short of battery phones, or uncannated loyalty applications, everything is done to complicate the checkout. A Latvian startup, Handwave, offers a biometric solution which allows the customer to be authenticated by means of the palm of his hand and which can then pay, identify or accumulate loyalty points.
The customer journey is designed to be instantaneous, the user is enrolled by scanning his palm with the camera of his phone, links his payment cards, loyalty or supporting programs to age with a encrypted digital portfolio, then can pay or identify in a gesture above a compatible reader. No owner terminal is required on the shopping side, a strategic difference with offers like Amazon One deployed for 5 years in the United States.
In Europe, only a few actors explore similar uses with in particular the Briton Fing who tests payment by palm of the hand in event places. The Belgian Palmki which offers a biometric access control based on the veins of the hand. But to date, no comparable solution has emerged in France, neither in the payment segment, nor in retail, contactless payment being a well -installed standard.
Why rethink payment, when contactless seems sufficient?
While contactless payment by card or telephone has become a standard, it remains limited by usage constraints, starting with the need to transport an object, the risks in the event of loss or flight, payment ceilings, dependence on a loaded or up -to -date smartphone. The payment solution via the palm of the hand frees from these obstacles by offering a truly free, universal and secure experience. No device, no application, no code is required, a simple gesture to present your palm allows you to make a payment, to accumulate loyalty points, or to prove your age at the cash desk. Unlike QR QR codes or mobile wallets, often mono-use and fragmented, the handwave solution centralizes these functions in a single interaction, while offering biometrics difficult to falsify. This approach reduces the friction on the customer side and lightens the complexity of integration on the trader side, which are freed from proprietary equipment.
Founded in 2021 in Riga, Handwave has just raised 3.6 million euros in Seed from Practica Capital, Firstpick, Outlast Fund and Inovo.VC. This funding has the total lifted to 4.3 million euros since its creation. It will be used to launch the first use cases in real conditions, obtain regulatory certifications and finalize integration with payment networks.
