PayByFace

PayByFace provides facial recognition technology for enterprises to offer loyalty and payment services. Users create accounts on the PayByFace app by submitting a selfie and connect payment methods to their account. Thereafter, they can use their face to pay at checkout at physical retail stores that have installed PayByFace’s software to their smart checkout devices (such as tablets). 

The company noted that its platform encrypts user data and is in compliance with GDPR and PSD/2, and has been fully validated by the National Bank of Romania and the European Central Bank. PayByFace also claims that its apps recognize faces with a 99% accuracy in under a second, without requiring an internet connection. 

The company also provides merchant payment terminals (digital signage) as platforms for digital out-of-home advertisements (static, repeat visibility, targeted marketing, etc) and shares the ad revenue with the merchants. In addition to its in-store biometric payment solution, PayByFace also provides facial recognition authentication for online checkouts as well. 

PayByFace deployed its payment solutions in several locations across the globe, namely, the US, the UAE, and South Africa, in September 2022. Subsequently, in  April 2024, PayByFace announced plans to further expand into the European market , including the Netherlands, the UK, Ireland, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Austria,, and Bulgaria. 

Key customers and partnerships

PayByFace claims to be the only facial recognition-based payment system in Southeast Europe and primarily targets essential businesses, such as pharmacies, grocery stores, and gas stations. As of May 2022, the platform was used in over 50 locations in Romania. The platform collaborates with Romanian online card payment processing company Euplatesc to facilitate payments and intends to integrate its service with card processing providers in France, the Netherlands, and Switzerland in the future.   

PayByFace partnered with ride-hailing app, GoCab in May 2021, to enable customers to settle their cab fare using facial recognition, via tablets installed in the backseat (10 taxis initially with plans to expand to 300 in the future). The tablets also broadcasted a series of advertisements, where the revenue was split evenly between GoCab and PayByFace. 

The company is also a part of the VISA Innovation Program in Bulgaria, and through the program, Bulgaria’s Raiffeisenbank began testing facial recognition payments using PayByFace. Moreover, it was also named as one of Mastercard’s partners to launch the latter’s biometric payment terminals.  

Funding and financials

PayByFace received a strategic investment from Indian FinTech infrastructure provider SafexPay (Safex) in May 2022. Safex also introduced PayByFace technology in India, starting with pilot projects with India-based multinationals. PayByFace planned to utilize the investment to accelerate the growth of its biometric payment solution, in addition to broadening its geographic presence.