Brazilian facial recognition payment startup joins Mastercard accelerator program

Payface, an up and coming facial recognition payment firm in Brazil has been selected among eight other companies for the Mastercard acceleration program dubbed “Start Path,” reports Exame.

As the only company from Latin America in this edition of the program, Payface will for the next six months benefit from Mastercard’s technology, mentorship and other resources to help it improve its facial recognition-enabled biometric payment solution, the report mentions.

“We want to leverage Mastercard’s global network to engage directly with consumers, gather feedback on geographic expansion and relevant market dynamics, and receive guidance on product viability,” explains Eládio Isoppo, CEO and co-founder of Payface.

Chief technology officer and co-founder of the company Ricardo Fritsche said the company’s acceptance to the program underlines its commitment to respond to challenges in the global payments market. “The news demonstrates how dedicated and empowered we are to address the adversities of the payments market, an extremely disputed and constantly growing sector, and also certifies how our biometric technology is a strong trend for the future.”

Amy Neale, senior vice president for Fintech & Enablers at Mastercard adds: “We have partnered with fintechs from the beginning and evolved Mastercard developers’ portfolio with programs like Start Path to support companies like Payface on their journey to grow and scale.”

Other Mastercard Start Path participants in the biometrics space include Paycode.

Though relatively new to the market, Payface is said to be making steady in routes into the Brazilian digital payments market with its facial recognition technology. The company has established a presence already in six of the country’s 26 states, including São Paulo and Minas Gerais.

Passive liveness detection technology is provided to Payface by ID R&D.