Keyo

Keyo is a biometric identification technology provider that offers palm vein recognition solutions for payments, access controls, and timelocks. The company leverages patented hardware and software to map and encrypt palm patterns. As of January 2020, the company noted that it had filed seven patents relating to its palm vein payment POS terminals, while Amazon had only filed one.

Keyo’s system includes several products; 1) Keyo Wave (palm imaging technology), 2) Keyo Mobile App (for users to enroll and link payment accounts, and track their purchases), 3) Keyo Partner Program, and 4) Keyo Identity Cloud (for users to identify themselves in real time at the vendors location).

Once users link their palm vein patterns to their Keyo account, they can make payments by hovering their palm over the terminal. Notably, personal information is not shared with merchants and Keyo deletes palm scan data if the account has been inactive for a year.

The company charges merchants a flat 1% processing fee on transactions, which it claims is less than the standard 2–5% fee charged by credit card payment processing companies.

Key customers and partnerships

Keyo caters to industries like retail, manufacturing, healthcare, and real estate, among others. The company came out of beta in November 2022, and noted that 15,000 Keyo devices were being used across the globe at the time.

Funding and financials

Keyo had raised around 7 million in funding as of November 2022, and was backed by several investors including Marc Randolph, the co-founder of Netflix.