Silvia Iacovcich, senior reporter at National Technology News spoke with some of the leaders advancing wearable payments technology in Europe to explore the challenges and opportunities they face in the market.

In recent years, Europe has seen a dramatic rise in wearable payment adoption, largely driven by the popularity of smartwatches and fitness trackers, as well as rings and wristbands equipped with NFC technology.

A recent report published by ResearchAndMarkets.com projects that the global market for wearable payment devices will reach $146.8 billion in five years’ time, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.6 per cent from 2024 to 2030.

In Europe, the market is no longer solely dominated by the likes of Apple Watch or Samsung Gear, with steady growth driven by a range of new companies entering the market. There are, however, still challenges to truly scaling the technology, from difficulty accessing financing to fragmentation in the market.

LAKS

A pioneer in the field of wearable payment devices, LAKS made history in 2006 with the world's first NFC contactless payment watch. Certified by Mastercard, the timepiece is now proudly displayed at the British Museum in London.

Since then, the Austrian company has evolved to develop hundreds of wearable devices that combine smart payments with accessories, from watches and bracelets to key rings.

LAKS recently unveiled its latest innovation: the ‘Leopard Ring’.

Lucas Alexander Karl Scheybal, founder and owner of the company, tells National Technology News that the business is particularly proud of the new technology’s compactness and durability.

“One of the biggest achievements has been integrating powerful payment technology into products that don’t look like technology at all but rather feel like personal style statements,” he explains.

Scheybal says that a typical day at LAKS is filled with creative workshops where designers and engineers work hand in hand.

“We explore new materials, refine the aesthetics of our products, and always strive for the perfect balance between functionality and elegance,” he continues.

The company is currently working on modular wearable devices that incorporate a number of new features, including access control, public transport ticket purchasing, and digital identities.

It is also prioritising sustainable materials that are recyclable and extend the life cycle of products.

“Our goal is to make wearables even more invisible, lightweight and multi-functional without compromising on design or comfort,” adds Scheybal.

According to Scheybal, passive wearable devices with enhanced NFC functionality will be indispensable for future generations who will integrate them seamlessly with digital wallets and smart devices.

“Biometric security features may also become part of future wearable accessories,” he adds.

While the company believes there are many strengths in the current European wearables market, for example a reliable regulatory framework that encourages innovation without compromising security and growing consumer familiarity with the technology, there are still hurdles to scaling.

“The challenge lies in the fragmentation of the market, which makes interoperability and scaling more complex,” points out Scheybal.

Paycelet

German wearables business Paycelet was created in 2022 because founder Felix Loipetssperget felt that traditional watches should be preserved in their classic style, so wanted to create an alternative to smartwatches.

Ultimately, the company tells National Technology News, he founded the business so he could wear his watch on his left arm and a stylish payment accessory on his right.

One of the main challenges during the initial development phase was to create a small-sized product that would still be able to obtain certification for Visa and Mastercard payments.

The firm’s product offering has widely expanded since then, now including a wide range of accessories – from metal and leather bands, to keyrings, rings, sail rope bands and bracelets.

Currently, the company is working on additional features for its battery-free Paycelet One bracelet, while also planning to further expand its product range.

The business says that when it comes to future innovations in the wearable device sector, tokenisation is a key technology that will drastically and permanently change the payments market.

As a European company, Paycelet says it is proud of having the largest number of partner banks that can connect to its devices without using the Curve smart payment app as an intermediary.

It hopes to connect 90 per cent of credit cards in Europe over the next five years.

The business also plans to expand to countries outside of Europe but says for now the European market is still the “most open” to wearables.

Astari

Astari is a Netherlands-based wearables business that sells a wide range of products.

“I was frustrated with smart watches as they require constant charging and people already have many devices to charge daily,” says Jelle te Kampe, who founded the company in 2021. “The core idea was to make payments easier and more integrated into people's daily lives through other types of classic-looking wearables.”

Although the company only began including rings at a later stage, these have now become a best-seller.

“Many customers prefer rings as a wearable payment device” says te Kampe.

The founder explains that wearable technology has become increasingly popular in recent years, first thanks to early tech enthusiasts and then gradually becoming more accepted and widespread among different types of users.

“With early adopters starting to use the technology, social visibility helped promote wider adoption and interest in wearable products,” he explains.

One of the biggest challenges for Astari in its earlier days was the funding process, with Te Kampe facing difficulty accessing traditional financing.

According to the founder, a lack of market information and predictive data made it extremely challenging to estimate potential customer interest and provide accurate business projections.

“Investors and lenders are challenging to convince because they want a simple, proven business case, require extensive evidence that the business will work, and are risk-averse,” he adds.

While the firm is proud of its European roots, te Kampe warns young founders that a high tax environment might makes it less attractive for tech companies to establish themselves in the market.

Nevertheless, the company continues to grow, with its main goal now to expand and add additional banking connections to its wearable devices.

“Our long-term goal is to have direct connections with every bank in Europe, some banks still don’t see the benefits of these collaborations and the process is slow and complex,” he explains.

The company has also inked partnerships with smart digital wallet and payment card Curve Wallet and cryptocurrency exchange platform Bybit, with plans to expand globally, with a particularly focus on the UAE and Asia.

DressCodeShirts

DressCode Shirts is a Cambridge-based fashion brand that blends digital payments with high-quality tailoring. The company’s technology includes its CashCuff Smart Shirts which enable contactless payments.

According to the business, when launched in 2019, these shirts were the first in the world to integrated NFC payment technology, allowing wearers to tap their sleeve on contactless terminals to pay without the need for a mobile phone or digital wallet.

The firm’s clothing collections also feature patterns inspired by binary code, Python, screen glitches, DNA sequences and algorithms, to make the wearable experience even more unique.

“Every day at DressCodeShirt is different, different challenges within the cycle of what we produce - nothing stands still, we are constantly adapting, embracing new technology and exploring the human relationship with it,” founder Andy Boothman tells National Technology News.

He says that the company’s technological development has focused on rethinking what can be achieved with the proven security of NFC communications.

“The potential to use this existing tech in new and novel ways is huge, and this is where we have spent a lot of time,” Boothman says. “Security is another key area that is constantly evolving; greater end-to-end encryption brings additional levels of reassurance which allows us to expand our services beyond payments into other forms of professional identification, access control, tokenisation and team building.”

The company is currently focusing on developing “screen-free actions”, creating systems that work independently of devices or screens, with the aim of helping elderly and disabled people access services more easily while challenging phone habits at the same time.

“We believe that contactless payments, and the other services that we can bring with it, offer a different way to accessing the utility of certain phone functions without fuelling the addiction of screen time,” he explains.

Looking ahead five years, Boothman says he would like to see a wider range of wearable devices and a move away from “screen time”.

“I strongly believe that making our clothes and other personal items ‘smart’ will change the way society functions,” he says. “I see them as a much-needed positive impact, releasing us from the addictive phone screen, bringing real presence back into events and building stronger, better-connected communities of people.”

EvoCircle

Italian EvoCircle creates NFC-enabled smart rings designed for contactless payments. The ring functions like a wearable credit card with no need for battery or charging – just a tap and go service.

Alessandro Fares, founder at the company, tells National Technology News that the product is appealing because of its simplicity. He says that the company’s rings provide a form of freedom that traditional smart rings do not tend to provide.

“There are no batteries or recharging required, you sleep in it and shower in it, leave it at home if you want to go to the beach,” he explains.

The rings are built around passive NFC technology, which means they draw just enough power from a contactless reader or payment terminal during a transaction, making them incredibly low-maintenance.

The company is now designing new versions of its ring that differ from its flagship ceramic product, incorporating new metal models and expanding the colour range.

Like Astari, EvoCircle has also struggled with financing.

“Few banks have so far believed in the project, they don't understand that thanks to these collaborations they could innovate without much effort,” explains Fares.

In the meantime, the company is also focusing on creating new bracelets with access control and a chipset for payments.

“Users can incorporate a rechargeable card and don't need to take their wallet to the gym, for example, allowing them to move around freely to make purchases,” he explains. “The world of NFC combined with the world of contactless payment can become limitless.”

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