For Handwave, a Latvian startup with roots in Riga, big plans are afoot to change the retail payment game. Their smart biometric palm payment solution will biohack our shopping experience! The firm focuses exclusively on the retail industry. It is intended to provide a convenient and safer option than in-person payment methods. For example, Handwave recently raised a remarkable $4.2 million in seed funding. At this point, they’re preparing to roll out market pilots in retail locations across Europe.
Founded by Janis Stirna and Sandis Osmanis-Usmanis, Handwave has attracted plenty of buzz with its unusual approach to payments. The startup’s collaborations with a range of financial institutions across Europe will help ensure the rapid deployment of its technology. This inspiring collaboration is further propelled by a recently announced partnership with Visa. It would greatly accelerate the pace at which Handwave’s solution could be rolled out to other countries.
His startup’s biometric palm payment system connects customers’ digital wallets to their unique palm prints, allowing them to pay by placing their palm over a scanner. This technological innovation improves not just security but the checkout process itself, leading to a better, faster shopping experience. Handwave has created their own hardware and algorithms, which they claim are less expensive than any competing solutions on the market.
Janis Stirna, one of the co-founders, emphasized the company’s collaborative spirit by stating, “Our plan is to collaborate with any financial institution or acquiring bank.” Their open approach will likely help them win adoption of their palm payment technology more widely across public and private retail environments.
Handwave’s funding includes investors such as Vilnius-based VC firm Practica Capital, FirstPick, Outlast Fund, and Inovo.vc. That support from these companies underlines a strong conviction among investors that Handwave has the potential to upend the payment processing space. Oskars Laksevics, another key figure in the startup, shared his personal commitment to the project: “I left a very well paid corporate job to join this one, and I truly believe that we are building the next big global payment platform.”
The founders learned a wealth of lessons and developed their expertise during their stint at Worldline. That experience better equips them to focus on the technical challenges of building an advanced new payment system. Stirna noted the unique opportunities presented by the Baltic region: “In the Baltics, there are not a lot of companies where you can get that extreme level of technical challenge to resolve.”
Handwave’s combination of low-cost hardware and proprietary algorithms gives it a strong edge over potential competitors in an increasingly competitive space. Handwave uses biometric technology to create an entirely new retail experience. They provide retailers with a verifiable and convenient alternative that frees them to deliver on consumer demands for speed, reliability, and secure transactions.
Handwave is looking forward to our first market pilots. The team is laser-focused on improving its technology and continuing to build partnerships with the financial community. The rental company’s novel approach makes it more convenient for customers to transact. It also represents an important milestone in the development of payment systems around the globe.
