Touché envisions a world completely without wallets

No more thick wallets filled with all kinds of cards.

Sahba Saint-Claire left his wallet behind and went for a night out, he didn't realise it until he was about to pay after a good evening.

"It got me thinking – we are not the cards we carry! What were the ways in which we would be able to make payments without the need to carry anything at all? What do we have constantly with us that can help identify us and make payments?," he said.

He then developed Touche. Touché removes the need for consumers to carry around a multitude of cards – credit cards, loyalty and membership cards etc. Payments are literally made through their fingers and all their entitlements applied.

"Imagine a world where you don’t need to carry your wallet anywhere you go globally. Just your fingers - which you cannot lose, forget, don’t need battery or network. All the payments and loyalty cards already stored, no identity theft, no fumbling around for your wallet or wondering which card to use to maximise your benefits. Imagine a device that makes sure it is YOU making the payment and ensures you get all your benefits at the point of interaction. This is Touché," he said.

Touché is the first in the world to use a mobile biometric device to identify the user and give them access to everything to which they are entitled. It has started delivering functionality with payments, loyalty and offer management in a combined, seamless fashion.

Although it processes traditional card payments, Touché is more than just a payment solution.

"Security is at the core of what we do. We never store images of fingerprints. They are hashed and encrypted and never shared. Our sensor is big and has a very high resolution. We use two fingers to get more data for comparison. Furthermore, we have hardware and software ‘live’ detection, which means we make sure that the authorised user is present at the point of interaction," he said.

Touche has just secured a US$2m funding through private investment and are pursuing opportunities in markets such as Latin America, Japan and Indonesia as it starts to expand operations and production.