Topics: How Many Subscribers, Retail, EV Charging Stations, Voice and AI, Micro-Loans
Yale Goldberg is the CEO of PopID and is leading the way in facial payment technology. California is the point of origin for the technology but recently it has expanded to Japan (see post on Wendys). Worth noting that some of the technology behind his solution is from Datacapsystems on the payment side. We shared the fascination with Contactless technology like this and wondered what else they might be into. We got the chance to ask him some questions and below is our exchange.
Related – NRF Best Payment Kiosk Innovation Finalist – PopID Pay By Face – Facial Payment
Yale Goldberg facial payment PopID
Q: 70,000 subscribers at end of 2021? How many are forecasted planned-for by end of 2022?
A: We currently have over 82,000 users (just over 80,000 at the end of 2021) and we are expecting significant growth in 2022. The majority of our users are from the 5 college campuses that we have a presence on and we expect to reach over 20 additional college campuses this year, which will spur large enrollment and usage growth for PopPay.
Q: Restaurants are primary market focus but are you looking at other segments (e.g. Costco)
A: Absolutely. We have a few retail locations that accept PopPay and we are seeing increased interest in biometric payment from large chains in the retail and grocery industries, as well as many others.
Q: How about extending to other payment situations such as EV Charging stations at restaurants (and letting Google Maps point traffic at you)
A: We have some amazing integrations that are piloting or being finalized (Bobacino, Miso Robotics, and delivery apps). We aim to allow brick and mortar and ecommerce retailers across the board to be able to accept PopPay as simply another payment method, like cash, credit card, Apple Pay and others.
Q: CLEAR is expanding from travel (airports) to hospitality/hotels with their facial recognition — how do you see facial payment progressing in 2022
A: The general public is becoming more and more comfortable and excited about using biometrics to authenticate identity. We are excited for the growth of the industry as a whole and believe 2022 will be a year of tremendous growth for facial recognition.
Q: Are there plans to include voice command technology to complete the contactless circle?
A: This is something that we have thought about over the years and is definitely a possibility. Currently our payment devices accept hand gestures as tips and we believe hand gestures are a great method for keeping the interaction contactless, but there may be opportunities for voice recognition as well.
Q: How could AI be used?
A: There are many ways that we can leverage AI for our payment platform. Most notably our micro-loan structure lends itself well to incorporating AI and is something that is already in the works.
Q: How would it feel to win the NRF award? (contingent on winning of course)
A: Over the past 4 years we have built an unbelievable team, partnered with companies that are willing to do everything in their power to help us succeed, and brought on advisors and investors that empower us to think outside the box and enable us to pursue our lofty goals. The award is really for everyone that has played a role in our journey over the past 4+ years. We are also excited for our great partner, DataCap, who nominated us for the award and has been all that we could ask for in a partner, and for the future of payments, something we believe will be synonymous with DataCap and PopPay.
Thank you very much Yale for taking time out to answer some questions!