Contactless payment ring launches on Kickstarter

Former Ukash CEO David Hunter has joined wearable payments startup Kerv as chairman as the firm kicks off a crowdfunding campaign for the launch of its first product, a contactless payments ring.

Kerv made its debut on Kickstarter this morning in an effort to raise £77,000 in mass production capital.

The ring, which will retail at £49.99 has an outershell made of zirconia ceramic and is scratch resistant and water proof.

Beyond retail payments, Kerv also offers instant sharing of emergency, medical or contact details at the tap of an NFC-enabled phone, plus one-touch access via compatible NFC locks and security systems.

Incoming chairman Hunter says: "A lot of technology in payments strikes me as being a solution looking for a problem. I'm confident that Kerv will be well received on Kickstarter because it solves genuine problems, focuses on the user-experience and makes the underlying technology invisible."

Kerv is registered as an FCA-approved e-money issuer and as such offers a contactless prepaid card account for users, alongside a mobile app that can switch the ring on and off, manage funds and issue transaction alerts.

Channels

Retail banking Payments Start ups

Keywords

Cards Innovation Mobile & online banking

Comments: (7)

Dave Sanderson - YBS Group - Bradford/Leeds - UK 25 September, 2015, 09:14

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I've just backed this, looks like a brilliant idea.

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A Finextra member 25 September, 2015, 10:14

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I love the ring form factor. It was widely rumoured a couple of years ago that Apple's payment solution would be based on a ring.

Performance issues aside, the main challenges with the rings are logistics and psychology. Wrist and fingers are highly personal spaces; it's a valuable "real estate" for making a statement (absence of anything is a statement too). Hence, getting some universal design/colours work for even a third of the marker is hard.

Logistics-wise, it's design/colour combos x ring sizes. Not a small task...

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A Finextra member 25 September, 2015, 11:02

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I think I'll back up the project, but they need to be careful with the "world's first" statement - there have been several NFC ring projects out there already (some EMV-compatible too).

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Alpesh Patel - SOLDO - London 25 September, 2015, 11:16

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Just backed this
Wish you and your company well

Im sure in the future will seee variations on this as well other innovations.

GOOD LUCK KERV

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James Bell - IBM UK LTD - London 25 September, 2015, 11:51

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I like the no-charging and no-pairing aspect of this. I guess it is a virtual prepaid card but in ring form factor? In that case is it like Barclaycard bpayband but just the form factor is different? (other than the further configurability in the video such as transmitting contact details)