Clover Selects Wink to Offer Biometric-Powered Payments

Clover Selects Wink to Offer Biometric-Powered Payments
  • Clover is partnering with Wink to embed biometric identity directly into the payment flow across Clover’s point-of-sale ecosystem.
  • The integration enables identity-based payments using facial, palm, and voice recognition and will support transactions, loyalty enrollment, and age verification without passwords, physical cards, or additional hardware.
  • The partnership treats identity as a core layer of the transaction and aims to deliver faster checkout, reduced fraud, and simpler operations for merchants.

Fiserv-owned Clover, a company that provides Android-powered point-of-sale tools, announced it is partnering with biometric identity and payments platform Wink to offer a new way to pay.

Clover will integrate Wink’s biometric identity technology into its existing platform, enabling identity-based payments designed to improve security and streamline checkout for both merchants and customers.

Texas-based Wink, a FinovateSpring 2023 Best of Show winner, provides a multi-factor biometric platform that combines facial, palm, voice, and device recognition to authenticate customer identities across in-store, mobile, and online transactions—without relying on passwords, physical cards, or additional hardware.

The integration brings together Clover’s payment and loyalty tools with Wink’s biometric authentication capabilities, allowing consumers to complete transactions, enroll in loyalty programs, and verify age-restricted purchases using biometric authentication. All transactions are processed through Wink’s PCI Level 1 and SOC 2–compliant payment gateway.

“The future of commerce is the unification of payment and identity,” said Fiserv SVP and Global Chief Product Officer of Merchant Solutions Sanjay Saraf. “By embedding Wink’s leading biometric security and intelligence directly into the Clover platform, we’re making cutting-edge technology simple, secure, and accessible for Main Street SMB businesses, helping them to deliver exceptional experiences and unlock new opportunities for growth.”

While contactless payments tools became less exciting after COVID, the heart of this collaboration is around a more central aspect of payments: identity. By integrating Wink’s tools, Clover is bringing identity into the core layer of the transaction, rather than a separate step handled through passwords, cards, or manual checks. For merchants, this could mean faster throughput, lower fraud, and fewer operational touchpoints.

Clover was originally founded in 2010 to help small businesses accept payments. Today, the company serves as a one-stop shop for multiple payment needs. In addition to offering a range of payment acceptance terminals, Clover also has software to help businesses with online orders, accounting, loyalty programs, staff management, inventory, and more.

Clover was acquired in 2012 by First Data, which was acquired by Fiserv in 2019.

“Wink’s strategic integration with Clover will bring unparalleled security, speed, and intelligence to every transaction across a large ecosystem of merchants, app developers, and partners,” said Deepak Jain, Founder and CEO of Wink. “We are excited to work closely with Fiserv to bring to market many advanced use cases of identity-driven payments that will define the future of connected commerce at scale across retail, hospitality, venues, and stadiums.”

Clover will make the biometric capabilities available across all of its point-of-sale devices, including Station Duo, Mini, Flex, and Clover Kiosk, and will not require additional hardware changes. The new biometric technology will be available to QSRs, sports venues, and retailers, in a continuous rollout throughout 2026.


Photo by Angela Roma

Best of Show: The Finovate Podcast’s Greg Palmer Chats with the Faves of FinovateSpring

Best of Show: The Finovate Podcast’s Greg Palmer Chats with the Faves of FinovateSpring

Check out Finovate VP and host of the Finovate Podcast Greg Palmer (@GregPalmer47) as he interviews the innovators that won Best of Show awards at FinovateSpring in May.

From digital transformation and payments to customer experience and the future of finance, the Finovate Podcast is a great way to hear from some of the most innovative talents in fintech.


Finovate VP Greg Palmer talks with Nate Gibbons of QuickFi on reimagining business financing and successfully managing rapid growth. Demo video.


Greg Palmer sits down with Tom Baran of 9Spokes on open banking and personalization in the SMB space. Demo video.


Greg Palmer interviews Jens Hinrichson and Robert MacDonald of 1Kosmos on the future of password-optional authentication. Demo video.


Greg Palmer talks with Deepak Jain of Wink on the future of biometric payments. Demo video.


Greg Palmer chats with Maya Mikhailov of SAVVI AI on on no-code AI solutions you can implement right now. Demo video.


Greg Palmer catches up with Hossein Rahnama of Flybits. Demo video.


Photo by CoWomen

FinovateSpring 2023 Best of Show Winners Announced!

FinovateSpring 2023 Best of Show Winners Announced!

There’s still one more day to enjoy FinovateSpring. But as far as the live demo portion of our program is concerned, the Best of Show celebrations have begun. With that in mind, please join us in congratulating the winners of Best of Show at FinovateSpring 2023.


1Kosmos for its technology that automates user onboarding for workers and customers, protecting against stolen and synthetic identities while eliminating ATO and fraud. Video.

9Spokes for its technology that unlocks the potential of open data, giving financial institutions a powerful set of tools to engage business customers. Video.

Flybits for its personalization platform that enables financial institutions to deliver best-in-class personalized digital banking experiences. Video.

QuickFi for its 100% digital, self-service equipment financing platform that enables business equipment financing in minutes. Video.

SAVVI AI for its technology that helps any FinCo team build and deploy AI apps in minutes. No data scientists, pre-existing data, or custom infrastructure required. Video.

Wink for its biometric payments and identity platform that enables users to say goodbye to passwords and fraud – and say hello to secure and simple authentication. Video.

On behalf of the entire Finovate team, we want to thank all of our demoing companies, our partners, and our sponsors. We also want to express our gratitude toward our attendees in the fintech and financial services industry who bring so much positive energy to our events. We look forward to seeing you again next year right here in San Francisco for FinovateSpring 2024!


Notes on methodology:
1. Only audience members NOT associated with demoing companies were eligible to vote. Finovate employees did not vote.
2. Attendees were encouraged to note their favorites during each day. At the end of the last demo, they chose their six favorites.
3. The exact written instructions given to attendees: “Please rate (the companies) on the basis of demo quality and potential impact of the innovation demoed.”
4. The six companies appearing on the highest percentage of submitted ballots were named “Best of Show.”
5. Go here for a list of previous Best of Show winners through 2014. Best of Show winners from our 2015 through 2023 conferences are below:
FinovateEurope 2015
FinovateSpring 2015
FinovateFall 2015
FinovateEurope 2016
FinovateSpring 2016
FinovateFall 2016
FinovateAsia 2016
FinovateEurope 2017
FinovateSpring 2017
FinovateFall 2017
FinovateAsia 2017
FinovateMiddleEast 2018
FinovateEurope 2018
FinovateSpring 2018
FinovateFall 2018
FinovateAsia 2018
FinovateAfrica 2018
FinovateEurope 2019
FinovateSpring 2019
FinovateFall 2019
FinovateAsia 2019
FinovateMiddleEast 2019
FinovateEurope 2020
FinovateFall 2020
FinovateWest 2020
FinovateEurope 2021
FinovateSpring 2021
FinovateFall 2021
FinovateEurope 2022
FinovateSpring 2022
FinovateFall 2022
FinovateEurope 2023

FinovateSpring 2023 Sneak Peek: Wink

FinovateSpring 2023 Sneak Peek: Wink

A look at the companies demoing at FinovateSpring in San Francisco on May 23 and 24. Register today and save your spot.

Wink’s revolutionary biometric payments and identity platform eliminates passwords and fraudulent activities utilizing advanced AI/Machine Learning, cutting-edge face, and voice recognition for unparalleled authentication.

Features

  • Goodbye passwords, fraud, and compliance costs with multi-factor biometric authentication
  • Full-service payment orchestration delivers secure payment experiences with failover protection
  • Guest checkout elimination simplifies checkout

Why it’s great

Wink enables any institution to offer simpler and superior identity and payments experiences through biometrics that ensures full privacy protection that cannot be decrypted.

Presenters

Deepak Jain, CEO & Founder
With multiple patents in payment and security technologies, Jain has built transformational businesses and products in the NFC payments, neobanking, blockchain and cross-border payment spaces.
LinkedIn

Gary Bender, CBO
Bender brings a depth of experience with technology, payments, banking, fintech, and a track record for team building, refining strategies, and focused execution.
LinkedIn