Baby Breaker Birth Announcements
By Tim Beyers (TMF Mile High) January 27, 2006
Welcome back to Baby Breakerdom! This week's quest to find budding Rule Breakers makes me wonder whether credit cards will last beyond 2016.
We begin this week with Pay By Touch, a biometrics company that -- get this -- is developing a system whereby you'll use your fingerprints to access your bank accounts. Imagine that for a second. No more, "Sign here." Or, "Can I see some ID, please?" Instead, your fingers would literally do the walking through that Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN) shopping spree.
It's easy for me to imagine venture investors salivating over the idea. But if they are, there's no relief to be had. Pay By Touch, you see, has taken money from almost everyone but VCs, including $60 million in Series C financing from hedge funds Plainfield Asset Management and Scout Capital in a deal that was announced yesterday. And that's on top of $130 million in debt and equity financing raised just three months ago.
What will the company do with the extra cash? Buy its way into new markets, of course. VentureWire reports that Pay By Touch has already acquired six companies in the areas of payment processing and loyalty programs, and now it wants more. Expansion plans include reaching out to customers where pay-as-you-go, credit-driven services are becoming more prevalent, including healthcare, the Internet, petroleum, convenience stores, and quick service restaurants.
http://www.fool.com/news/mft/2006/mft06012729.htm
