SAN FRANCISCO – Pay By Touch, the financially troubled maker of biometric fingerprint identification technology, sold two of the operating subsidiaries it acquired in a recent conglomeration and is poised to sell its core payments business, as part of a bankruptcy court auction.
Last week the company announced it auctioned off its biometric check-cashing unit, called BioPay Paycheck Secure, to a management-led group called Phoenix Check Cashing, for $4.2 million. Pay By Touch bought the unit, which approves check cashing transactions by fingerprint, for $82 million in 2006.
The company also sold its ATM Direct, a provider of PIN-based payments for the Internet, to Accullink LLC, of Atlanta, for $600,000 and the assumption of debt. Pay By Touch bought ATM Direct in 2005 for $30.5 million.
The bankruptcy auction by privately owned Pay By Touch, which is formally known as Solidus Inc., is the result of a fight with its major venture backers who forced the company into bankruptcy last fall.
