Will You Be Paying With Cash, Credit, or Your Face?
In something straight out of CSI, Uniqul is creating a new payment method based on facial biometric technology that will allow any subscriber to pay with their beautiful faces.
Headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, Uniqul is the brainchild of Ruslan Pisarenko who came up with the idea after meeting with Russel Simmons and Aaron Patzerin, founder of mint.com, at the July 2012 Founder’s Week (a workshop for start-ups and entrepreneurs).
“We believe that we are the first one to solve the three main questions regarding payments, those being security, convenience, and speed,” said Oscar Tuutti, CEO of Uniqul.
With credit, debit, NFC, or other mobile wallet and tap-to-go technologies, necessary security steps slows down the check-out process. Also, most new mobile payment technologies require that the consumer have some device on hand. With Uniqul, there is no need for PIN codes, signatures, or anything, really - well, except maybe your face.
So how does it work? You link your bank account, credit, Square, or PayPal information, along with a headshot of yourself, to Uniqul. Then, at participating merchants, a Uniqul tablet will snap a photo of you. In just seconds it analyzes your bio-metrical data to locate your account within the database.
The service itself is subscription based, and starts at 0.99€. Plans are based on an area of coverage. A user chooses a point, usually their home, and can use Uniqul within a radius of 1-2km to do local shopping. Higher tiered plans increase coverage, and the highest plan is aimed at travelers with worldwide usage.
Tuutti believes that store owners who use Uniqul will provide a faster checkout process, leading to an increase in sales, especially during peak business hours.
So far, Uniqul has not created a merchant subscription plan, but there is a definite incentive to adopt this service.
Uniqul is currently in beta in Helsinki, but there are plans to service local businesses. After the test, the company will look to take its services to other countries.