Palm-based payment service, Handwave, secures $4.2M funding for expansion in Europe and the US markets.
Handwave Secures $5 Million in Funding for Palm-Based Payment and Identity Platform
Handwave, a startup revolutionising in-store checkout, has secured $5 million in funding, led by Practica Capital, with support from FirstPick, Outlast Fund, and Inovo.vc. This latest round brings the total funding raised by Handwave to $5.78 million, including an earlier $780,000 angel investment.
Handwave's innovative platform aims to simplify checkout for consumers while offering retailers and merchants a solution to reduce checkout friction, enhance customer experience, and access integrated services. The platform uses a palm-based payment and identity system, eliminating the need for cards, phones, apps, or facial recognition.
The technology works by imaging the palm's surface lines and the unique subdermal vein patterns to create a highly secure, encrypted, user-controlled digital ID stored in a digital wallet. Consumers onboard by scanning their palm via a phone camera and linking their payment, identity, and loyalty credentials to the platform. At checkout, users simply hold their palm over a reader to complete transactions or verify identity attributes.
For retailers, Handwave's system speeds up checkout by removing the need for customers to search for wallets, unlock devices, or present physical loyalty cards. It also integrates built-in age verification and loyalty activation, enhancing the customer experience and operational efficiency. This helps retailers streamline physical store payment and identity verification processes.
Financial institutions and payment providers stand to benefit from partnering with Handwave to offer consumer and business-to-business biometric authentication services. The platform's encrypted, two-factor authentication backing—including palm surface and vein pattern imaging—provides a secure and privacy-focused alternative to traditional payment methods and facial or fingerprint biometrics.
Handwave positions itself as a privacy-focused, frictionless biometric solution that simplifies payments and identity verification across consumers, retailers, and financial institutions by using a contactless, palm-based digital ID system that is harder to spoof than fingerprints and does not rely on facial recognition.
As Handwave prepares for market pilots, it is deepening its biometric infrastructure and engaging merchant partnerships across the Baltics and beyond. The funding will be used for product development, regulatory certifications, and live retail pilots. Acquirers, financial institutions, and payment operators can integrate with Handwave through strategic partnerships.
Arvydas Blože, Partner at Practica Capital, stated that Handwave demonstrates "bold thinking" and is at the forefront of technology. With this new funding, Handwave is poised to revolutionise the way we pay and verify our identity, offering a secure, contactless, and frictionless solution for the modern world.
[1] Handwave's official website [2] TechCrunch article [3] VentureBeat article
- Handwave's innovative business model, centered around palm-based payment and identity platforms, is expected to revolutionize the finance sector by offering secure, contactless, and frictionless solutions for both consumers and retailers, making it a potential game-changer in the world of technology.
- By partnering with Handwave, financial institutions and payment providers can enhance their services, offering biometric authentication to consumers and businesses with a more secure, privacy-focused alternative to traditional payment methods, which leverages both palm surface and vein pattern imaging.
