Companies to Bring Secure Contactless Payments to Millions of Devices from Wearatec and Other Innovative Manufacturers
PURCHASE, N.Y. and LAS VEGAS, Nevada – October 25, 2016 – Mastercard today announced a partnership with Fit Pay, Inc. to bring Mastercard contactless payments to consumer wearables and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. By integrating the Fit Pay platform with the MasterCard Digital Enablement Service (MDES), the companies will work with Wearatec and other innovative manufacturers to bring to Mastercard cardholders a variety of secure contactless payments-enabled devices.
The Fit Pay platform drastically reduces the time-to-market, cost and complexity of payment and authentication services for wearable device manufacturers. The Fit Pay partnership with Mastercard highlights the growing ecosystem of technology integrators that have joined the Mastercard Commerce for Every Device program. Mastercard has developed partnerships with companies across multiple categories to enable simple and secure payment transactions to fit every consumer lifestyle, enabling them to use the device that is most convenient to them, with the highest level of security.
“We see a tremendous demand for payment capabilities coming from innovative device manufactures who recognize the importance to continually expanding the value proposition of their products,” said Michael Orlando, co-founder and chief executive officer of Fit Pay. “Working alongside Mastercard, Fit Pay’s platform can seamlessly add contactless payment capabilities to wearable devices, increasing consumer engagement, creating new revenue streams, and making their devices indispensable.”
Wearatec produces connected watch clasps to enable smart device capabilities for luxury watches. With Mastercard and Fit Pay, Wearatec will work with its partners, including leather goods designer Jean Rousseau, to bring secure payments to a wide array of men’s and women’s timepieces.
Based on its current relationships with Wearatec and other device manufacturers, Fit Pay expects to payments-enable more than 2.5 million wearable devices in 2017, with the number rising to more than 9 million in 2018.
The ability to enable all of these devices with payments is an extension of MDES and the Digital Enablement Express (Express) program. Through MDES and Express, any accessory, wearable or device can be payment-enabled to be used at the more than 6 million Mastercard contactless-enabled merchant locations in 77 countries around the globe. Because these device-based transactions are tokenized through MDES, consumers have peace of mind knowing they are protected from fraudulent transactions when using their favorite devices to pay.
“At Mastercard, we are continuously working to enable payments to a whole new generation of devices to give consumers more choice in how they pay,” says Kiki Del Valle, Senior Vice President, Digital Payments and Labs at Mastercard. “The Commerce for Every Device program puts in place a standard for expanding secure contactless and embedded payment options globally, and our work with Fit Pay and its set of cutting-edge device manufacturers will further help us meet merchant and consumer needs.”
Within the Mastercard booth (3413) at the Money20/20 conference in Las Vegas, NV, October 23-26, Mastercard and Fit Pay will demonstrate live retail transactions performed via wearable devices.
About Mastercard
Mastercard (NYSE: MA), www.mastercard.com, is a technology company in the global payments industry. We operate the world’s fastest payments processing network, connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. Mastercard products and solutions make everyday commerce activities – such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances – easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone. Follow us on Twitter @MastercardNews, join the discussion on the Beyond the Transaction Blog and subscribe for the latest news on the Engagement Bureau.
About Fit Pay, Inc.
Based in San Francisco, California, Fit Pay, Inc. is a white-label technology platform that adds contactless payment capabilities to wearable devices—with very little start up time, no investment in software development and instant access to the leading card networks. With payment capabilities enabled by Fit Pay, wearable and IoT device manufacturers can create customer loyalty, tap into recurring revenue streams, open new markets, and differentiate their products in an increasingly competitive wearable device marketplace. Fit Pay is led by former CyberSource, Visa and Jumio executives with more than 40 years of payment and identity authentication domain expertise. The company was named a “Cool Vendor” by Gartner for 2016. Learn more at www.fit-pay.com, or on Twitter.
Mastercard Communications Contact
Brian Gendron
+1 914-325-1799
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Fit Pay Communications Contact
Chris Orlando
+1 760-468-7273
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