NEC takes a stake in PopID, Tencent and Wink biometrics integrated with POS terminals

Major technology firms and payment providers are racing to replace cards and phones with face, palm and voice biometrics. Payments companies, device makers and cloud providers are rolling out face and palm‑based systems at retail chains, cafés, stadiums and transport hubs in Asia and North America, as identity‑based transactions move to larger-scale deployments.

NEC invests in PopID, integrates face biometrics

Japan’s NEC has taken a stake in U.S. payments startup PopID as it looks to expand the use of its facial recognition technology in North America, where PopID’s platform is already deployed in more than 1,000 restaurants and retail locations.

The investment was made through the NEC Orchestrating Future Fund, the company’s corporate venture arm. NEC did not disclose the size of its stake or the amount invested, but the deal follows PopID’s Series C funding round in May 2025, which included Verifone, Visa, PayPal, Commerce Ventures and Chipotle’s venture arm, Cultivate Next.

The new capital is expected to support the rollout of Verifone biometric payment terminals compatible with PopID across the U.S. “PopID’s advanced payment service contributes to the global adoption of face authentication payments and aligns with NEC’s vision of creating flexible, resilient, and sustainable societies,” said NEC’s Shigeko Wada, Corporate SVP.

PopID allows customers to pay by scanning their face biometrics at checkout after registering a photo and linking a bank account or card via the PopID app. The company says the system offers a faster, touch‑free alternative to traditional payments.

It also supports direct bank transfers, enabling users without credit cards to make purchases. For merchants, PopID’s transaction fees are around one‑third of typical credit‑card charges.

“We are excited to work with NEC, a global leader in biometric authentication technology, to bring the full biometric experience — from entry to payments — to stadiums and theme parks around the world,” said John Miller, PopID CEO and chairman of the Cali Group.

The company has grown rapidly, signing up quick‑service chains including Whataburger and Steak ’n Shake. PopID currently uses facial recognition supplied by a U.S. vendor but plans to integrate NEC’s technology, which has repeatedly ranked first for accuracy in tests by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology.

NEC said the partnership will help accelerate the adoption of biometric payments globally by combining its authentication technology with PopID’s expanding merchant network. The company’s facial recognition systems are already used in more than 50 countries.

The deal underscores NEC’s push to position face biometrics as a mainstream payment method. In Japan, NEC partnered with Stripe to enable in-store face payments through the Stripe Reader S700 payment terminal.

NEC also piloted its biometric payments system at Expo 2025 in Osaka from April to October in what was the largest deployment of facial recognition in Japan for in-store payments and entrance authentication.

OpenSys trials Tencent palm biometric payments in early pilot

OpenSys Technologies has unveiled a prototype palm‑recognition payment system as the Malaysian firm explores biometric alternatives to cards and smartphones.

Called “PalmWav” the system is being tested in a controlled pilot and is designed to work with the country’s existing payment infrastructure, including PayNet’s MyDebit network. The company demonstrated the technology internally this week, giving employees and selected partners an early look before wider public trials.

Two cafés — Kom.Fi in Kuala Lumpur and Bread Maison in Petaling Jaya — served as initial pilot sites, where customers could make purchases by waving a hand over a reader. PalmWav uses Tencent Cloud’s AI‑based biometrics to generate an encrypted “palm signature” that verifies a user’s identity within seconds.

Users enroll through a mobile app and complete a one‑time registration at participating merchants. Once registered, payments can be made without a phone, card or wallet. The system incorporates end‑to‑end encryption, tokenisation and real‑time fraud monitoring, according to the company.

“By combining Tencent Cloud’s biometrics expertise with our deep understanding of Malaysia’s payments landscape, this prototype showcases a new easy to make transactions simpler, safer, and more intuitive,” said Wong Siew Pooi, co-CEO of OpenSys Technologies.

OpenSys says the prototype is intended to test how palm biometrics could streamline payments by reducing friction at checkout. The company highlights potential benefits for consumers and for merchants, such as shorter queues and hands‑free payments that can integrate with loyalty programs.

Previously, Tencent partnered with Visa on the introduction of its palm recognition technology for digital payments in international markets, starting with a pilot programme in Singapore. Mastercard integrated palm biometrics into its biometric checkout program and Amazon has fully deployed its palm-scanning technology, Amazon One, across all Whole Foods stores in the U.S.

Tencent-operated WeChat launched its Palm Pay system across convenience stores and various retail outlets in China. The Chinese tech giant is also considering bringing its palm biometrics to Thailand, while rival Alibaba’s affiliate Ant Group is pushing palm biometric payments with its Alipay PL1 product.

Users must register their palm and vein biometrics with Alipay and connect them with their payment account to use the PL1 device. At shops using the PL1 device, customers then simply hold their palm over the sensor to verify and approve transactions.

Meanwhile, OpenSys plans to continue evaluating palm‑based payments across different sectors as it assesses potential real‑world applications in Malaysia’s digital economy.

PAX partners with Wink to bring biometric checkout to POS

PAX Technology has formed a strategic partnership with Wink to integrate multimodal biometric authentication into PAX’s Android payment terminals, enabling customers to pay using face, palm or voice biometrics instead of cards or phones.

The collaboration will link PAX’s payment hardware with Wink’s AI‑driven identity platform through semi‑integration with PAX’s BroadPOS app. The companies say the combined system will allow merchants to offer faster, hands-free checkout while adding an additional layer of fraud protection. Wink’s payment platform supports real‑time transaction processing across major global acquirers.

“PAX has long set the standard for secure, high-performance payment terminals,” says Deepak Jain, CEO and founder of Wink. Jain spoke with the Biometric Update Podcast on the confluence of payments, biometrics and identity.

“Together, we’re pairing their trusted hardware with Wink’s multimodal biometric identity platform to deliver a new era of frictionless, identity-powered payments,” Jain continued.

Wink’s technology uses algorithms ranked highly by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), along with tokenized identity data, PCI‑compliant infrastructure and real‑time liveness detection. The company says acquirers, ISOs and merchants will be able to activate biometric authentication on existing PAX terminals without additional hardware.

“By working with Wink to bring their functionality to our Android payment devices, the point-of-sale becomes more than a payment terminal — it becomes an identity-enabled commerce platform,” says Clint Jones, chief revenue officer of PAX Technology. “This isn’t just a feature, it’s a fundamental shift representing the future of checkout, one that prioritizes security, speed, and personalization.”

The biometric features will be available across PAX’s full terminal range, including countertop devices, mobile units, PIN pads and unattended kiosks. The companies expect the technology to support use cases in retail, quick‑service restaurants, hospitality, transport and events.

Consumers who enrol once with a participating merchant or provider can be recognized at any Wink‑enabled PAX terminal, allowing loyalty accounts, age verification and payments to be linked to a single biometric identity.

Wink merged with Phoenix Managed Networks, a global payment technology and services provider, earlier this year.

Article Topics

biometric authentication  |  biometric payments  |  biometrics  |  face biometrics  |  NEC  |  OpenSys  |  palm biometrics  |  PopID  |  POS  |  Tencent  |  Wink