# Pay By Touch

> Pay By Touch was a San Francisco fintech company that let shoppers connect a fingerprint template to payment and loyalty accounts, then check out without cash or cards. Founded in 2002 as Solidus Networks, it put inexpensive readers in supermarkets and other retailers, expanded through acquisitions, raised more than $300 million, and shut its biometric network in March 2008 after weak adoption, missed payroll, a control fight and Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

- **Founded:** 2002
- **Headquarters:** San Francisco, United States
- **Founders:** John P. Rogers (Founder, Chairman and CEO), John Franks (Co-founder)
- **Products:** Pay By Touch biometric payment, Biometric loyalty and age verification, Paycheck Secure, S&H greenpoints, Merchant payment processing
- **Notable:** Put its first retail biometric payment system into West Seattle Thriftway in 2002., Expanded a four-store Piggly Wiggly pilot across roughly 85 company-owned stores in 2005., Reported more than 2 million consumers across retailers including Albertsons, Cub Foods, Farm Fresh, Piggly Wiggly, Thriftway and Pick 'n Save Metro Market by late 2005.

## Products & services

- **Pay By Touch biometric payment** — An in-lane fingerprint reader matched an encrypted mathematical template, plus a remembered search code, to a shopper's checking, debit or credit account.
- **Biometric loyalty and age verification** — The platform connected identity to loyalty rewards and could support identity or age checks without presenting a separate card.
- **Paycheck Secure** — Acquired with BioPay, this service used biometric identity to reduce fraud when merchants cashed payroll checks.
- **S&H greenpoints** — A digital loyalty and rewards program acquired to add personalized marketing to the company's payment identity network.
- **Merchant payment processing** — The acquired CardSystems business gave Pay By Touch direct payment-processing capabilities and a large merchant base.

## Achievements

- Put its first retail biometric payment system into West Seattle Thriftway in 2002.
- Expanded a four-store Piggly Wiggly pilot across roughly 85 company-owned stores in 2005.
- Reported more than 2 million consumers across retailers including Albertsons, Cub Foods, Farm Fresh, Piggly Wiggly, Thriftway and Pick 'n Save Metro Market by late 2005.
- Built a network reported at more than 2,200 US retail locations in 2006, plus international pilots and deployments.
- Combined biometric authentication, payment processing, check cashing and loyalty marketing through acquisitions.
- Its collapse became part of the policy backdrop to Illinois' 2008 Biometric Information Privacy Act.

## Latest updates

- **2007-11** — A court-appointed custodian took outside control amid investor lawsuits, a board fight and unpaid-wage claims.
- **2007-12** — Solidus Networks filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
- **2008-03** — Pay By Touch ended biometric processing at 11:59 p.m. Pacific on March 19, citing lack of funding and market conditions.
- **2008-04** — A lender consortium bought core assets for $4.4 million in cash plus a $50 million credit bid.

## Links

- Website: http://www.paybytouch.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/pay-by-touch

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Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-09-25