US-based bank Citigroup is setting up an international joint venture with Live By Touch, a China-based provider of payment terminals operated by fingerprints, as part of a $75m round.
Citigroup has also invested in Live By Touch’s latest round through its Growth Ventures and Innovation unit run by Deborah Hopkins, alongside Legend Capital, the corporate venturing unit of China-based technology firm Legend, bank China International Capital and private equity firm CDH Investment.
Live By Touch’s PayByFinger service was introduced in Shanghai in 2006, at a time when 95% of consumer spending was by cash.