Paying with a handwave once sounded like science fiction, but contactless palm recognition service Amazon One has already been used more than 8 million times, according to the company. That’s Amazon, though, which explains why it has been deployed in Amazon stores and more than 500 Whole Foods Market stores in the U.S., but only 150 third-party locations.
Meanwhile, fintech startups like Latvia’s Handwave are stepping onto the field, aiming to provide third-party retailers with a similar but independent solution for faster checkout while leveraging the giant’s role in popularizing biometric payments in the West. (China has already begun adopting biometric palm payments, with Tencent working to bring its Weixin Palm Pay service into mainstream use.)
Like Apple’s Face ID, palm scanning uses more than static images: it analyzes palm vein patterns and also verifies that the user is physically present when they hover their hand over the scanner. This method works for secure contactless payments and also applies to broader identity verification scenarios — with players like Keyo also supporting secure building access and other applications.
In contrast, Handwave is focusing specifically on retail — and since it doesn’t own stores like Amazon, it had to seek partners, which required having a product. Three years in, and now with its own hardware and software, the Latvian startup is preparing for market pilots that will deploy its palm scanning devices at retail stores.
Merchants who deploy the startup’s tech would pay a transaction fee that Handwave claims will be on par with or lower than standard payments. According to Handwave, faster and cheaper checkouts could reduce costs. But unlike some cost-cutting measures, this solution aims to make things easier for customers — with the promise of no cards, no apps, no fingerprint scanners, and no facial scans — even for age verification and loyalty programs.
Handwave’s cofounders, CEO Janis Stirna and Sandis Osmanis-Usmanis, previously worked for one of the world’s largest global payment providers, Worldline. Despite this connection, the team aims to build a wide ecosystem. “Our plan is to collaborate with any financial institution or acquiring bank,” Stirna told TechCrunch.
The st …