Photo courtesy of PopID.
PopID Teams With Visa To Bring Facial Payments to the Middle East
PopID, a Pasadena-based startup that uses facial recognition software to enable payments, is venturing into the Middle East.
On Tuesday, PopID announced a partnership with financial services giant Visa that will promote its facial payment solution PopPay in the Middle East. PopID, which scans biometric facial data in real time to verify payments, has also teamed with investment firm Dubai Holdings to deploy its face-pay technology at the firm's assets across the region.
Dubai's Coca-Coca Arena, as well as retailers like Costa Coffee and grocery chain Géant, will be among the first merchants to use PopID’s technology in the Middle East. PopID CEO John Miller said the technology would begin rolling out in the next couple of weeks.
Shoppers can enroll to use PopPay through a store’s app—where their face can be linked to loyalty rewards programs—or through their bank’s mobile app to link their face to a card.
Customer getting ready to checkout using PopPay. Photo courtesy of PopID.
“It's about validation and getting people comfortable with the idea of face-pay as an alternative to the card and the phone,” Miller said of the partnership with Visa.
This news comes a month after PopID inked a deal with events and venue management company ASM Global to install PopPay and PopEntry, its health screening and temperature checks platforms, at ASM venues around the world. The startup also partnered with SoftBank in November to launch its technology at restaurants in Japan. Since then, PopID has registered 5,000 new clients, bringing its total users to 90,000.
“We're moving faster with the vision of a global face-pay platform than probably we had ever contemplated,” Miller told dot.LA. “The international community is embracing it faster than we expected.”
The controversy behind facial recognition software is nothing new, with many observers expressing concerns regarding the privacy and security practices behind their biometric data being stored. Miller acknowledges that there are skeptics as with any new technology, but said the adoption of PopPay overseas is higher because “people aren't as concerned about privacy and data issues as they might be in America.”
From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web
GoodRx was the first Los Angeles tech company to go public this year. It's mission to lower the prices of prescription drugs for Americans has made it one of the most-downloaded medical apps in the country.
"We're excited for the future and we appreciate the recognition," he said.
dot.LA wrapped up its inaugural Summit with the 2020 Startup Awards that honor the ingenuity and creativity propelling the startup scene in Southern California. More than 120 nominations were received from dot.LA's audience. The winners were chosen by a blue ribbon panel of judges, along with more than votes from the public.
Other winners included Entrepreneur of the Year, Tala CEO Shivani Siroya, Curative for Pivot of the Year, Blavity CEO Morgan DeBaun for Rising Entrepreneur, Openpath for Rising Startup and Social Justice Award went to Act One Ventures partner Alejandro Guerrero.
"We wanted to use this opportunity to shine a light on some of the most exciting, most driven and most world-changing people in companies in our world today," said dot.LA CEO Sam Adams.
Pivot of the Year: Curative Inc.
Curative was founded earlier this year by Fred Turner, an Oxford dropout. His company was then based in the Bay Area and tested for sepsis before it pivoted to provide COVID testing. As the pandemic emerged, he established a lab in San Dimas with the help of local venture capitalists that would eventually become Curative's home base. The company's saliva- based tests now account for about 10% of all testing nationally and Curative has an exclusive deal with the city of Los Angeles to provide testing.
"On behalf of our CEO Fred Turner and everyone who just want to thank you," said Curative spokesman Pasqualle Gianna. As you know, we pivoted from sepsis testing to COVID testing."
Finalists
Quantgene: The company typically offers AI-powered blood test systems for early cancer detection but now provides COVID testing and logistics for those going back to work.
Swoop: The startup focused on group transportation but developed software that limousine charter operators and their suppliers, could utilize during the pandemic as regular business dried up.
PRISM Bags: This company planned to launch their signature product, a woman's work bag but as the pandemic beared down created one suited that included mask pockets.
WELL Health Inc.: Funded and engineered the Rapid Release Program in March '20, which allowed health systems to manage urgent COVID-19 patient communications at scale.
Social Justice Award: Alejandro Guerrero
More than 20 VCs have signed onto to Act One Ventures partner Alejandro Guerrero's Diversity Rider Initiative.
The firms have pledged to add language in term sheets submitted to startups that they will make their "commercial best efforts to offer and make every attempt to include as a co-investor in the financing" at least one Black check writer or other underrepresented group."
Guerrero is the child of Mexican immigrants who said he often found he was the only person of color in the room when investment deals north of six figures were being made. He said he was inspired by the George Floyd protests and the push the industry to recognize long-standing inequities.
Finalists
Candace Walker, Co-Founder of Just US app: Created a hands-free voice control app that notifies your designated contacts when you've been stopped by police.
Derek Smith, Founder of Plug-In South LA: Created a tech startup community and accelerator program for entrepreneurs from under-represented backgrounds; produced the Urban Tech Connect conference.
Lolita Taub, Co-Founder and GP at The Community Fund: First-generation Latinx operator and investor that launched a $5 million early-stage fund to invest in community-driven companies.
Miki Reynolds, Executive Director, Grid110: Leads a no-equity, LA-based accelerator for underrepresented founders
Rising Entrepreneur: Morgan DeBaun
Morgan DeBaun is the founder and CEO of Blavity Inc., a leading news company and media brand for Black millennials and Gen Z. The outlet has been a leading voice for diversity. She launched Blavity in 2014; it now reaches over 30 million millennials a month.
Finalists
Cristina de la Peña, CEO & founder of Synapbox
Jessica Nouhavandi, co-CEO of Honeybee Health
Ksenia Yudina, CEO of UNest
Robert Luo, CEO & founder of Mi Terro
Rising Startup: Openpath
The property-tech firm provides s touchless-entry activated by one's mobile device to doors, gates, elevators and lobby check-ins.
James Segil and Alex Kazerani co-founded Openpath in 2016 along with Chief Technology Officer Rob Peters, Chief Security Officer Samy Kamkar, and Chief Revenue Officer Phil Goldsmith.
The company recently raised $35 million and has seen their value proposition become all the more useful in the post-pandemic era.
"I'm incredibly honored and humbled to be here amongst so many great entrepreneurs and great companies here in L.A.," Kazerani said. "On behalf of about 450,000 Openpath users and our entire team, we really want to thank dot.la"
Finalists
Pipe: A platform that offers non-dilutive financing to SaaS companies through an instant cash advance against the full annual value of software subscriptions.
PlayVS: Connects online games with official school administration and branding, elevating Esports from hobby to school-sponsored activity.
Outer: A direct to consumer outdoor furniture brand.
Wave: An entertainment technology company that turns performers into digital avatars and puts them on virtual stages.
Entrepreneur of the Year: Shivani Siroya
Shivani Siroya is the CEO and founder at Tala, a fintech company that offers microloans to people that often don't have a formal credit history. The company has extended $1 billion in microloans to 4 million customers in emerging markets and was last valued at $700 million. Siroya has been named one of Forbes' "40 under 40."
Finalists
Alex Canter, CEO and co-founder of software company Ordermark
Andrew Peterson, CEO and co-founder of Signal Sciences
Doug Hirsch and Trevor Bezdek, co-founders and co-CEOs of GoodRx
Imran Khan, fo-founder and CEO of Verishop
Startup of the Year: GoodRx
The prescription-discount app GoodRx became one of the first Los Angeles tech companies to go public this year.
Co-founded by former Facebook executive Doug Hirsch and Trevor Bezdek, the Santa Monica company makes money by collecting fees from pharmacy benefits managers.
GoodRx is the most downloaded medical app in the United States and boasts 70,000 pharmacies on its platform. It's also profitable. The company earned $54 million in profit for the first six months ending in June, up from $31 million over the same time last year.
The company expanded into telehealth with the purchase of Heydoctor in 2019.
Finalists
GOAT: Fast-growing global luxury shoe and apparel retailer.
Headspace: A meditation app that recently raised $100 million in debt and equity.
Scopely: A mobile video game company that acquired FoxNextGames from Disney in January.
TikTok: The video-sharing platform was the top grossing app on iOS App Store globally in Q2 2020.
From Your Site Articles
- The dot.LA Summit Focuses on L.A.'s Growing Startup Scene - dot.LA ›
- GoodRx Stock Plummets After Amazon Announcement - dot.LA ›
- Los Angeles' Top Entrepreneurs, as Picked by its VCs - dot.LA ›
- Gen Z Prefers Video Games to Streaming - dot.LA ›
- Save the Date: THE DOT.LA 2021 SUMMIT - dot.LA ›
- GoodRx Acquires Pharmacy Platform VitaCare for $150 Million ›
- Nominate Leaders for dot.LA’s Startup Awards! - dot.LA ›
- Nominate Leaders for dot.LA’s Startup Awards! - dot.LA ›
- dot.LA Summit 2022: A Guide to Events - dot.LA ›
Related Articles Around the Web
https://twitter.com/racheluranga
rachel@dot.la
