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Executive Summary: Contactless Technology Market Outlook [2026]

  • Industry Growth Overview: The contactless technology market recorded 2.11% annual growth. It includes more than 91 900 companies worldwide, with 1650 startups advancing payments, access, and identity systems.
  • Manpower & Employment Growth: The global workforce reached 7.5 million employees. The market added over 2000 workers last year as adoption expanded across retail, transport, healthcare, and public services.
  • Patents: The ecosystem includes 740 200 patents from 224 900 applicants. Yearly patent growth of 4.97% reflects ongoing innovation in NFC, biometrics, QR systems, and secure authentication technologies.
  • Global Footprint: The United States, the United Kingdom, India, Germany, and Canada serve as leading country hubs. London, New York City, Singapore, Bangalore, and Shenzhen anchor activity at the city level.
  • Investment Landscape: Our database tracks more than 32 400 funding rounds in the market with an average investment value of USD 38.2 million. Over 24 800 investors have supported more than 8600 companies across different maturity stages.
  • Top Investors: The combined investment value of leading investors exceeds USD 20 billion. Tiger Global, Walmart, and Flipkart rank among the most active participants.
  • Startup Ecosystem: Notable startups include Media Contactless (NFC-enabled product interaction), Adapt ID (contactless identification cards and tags), Invisible Sun Technology (facility management), BluSim Tech (vital monitoring), and Oror (interactive holographic kiosks).

 

 

Methodology: How we created this Contactless Technology Report

This report is based on proprietary data from our AI-powered StartUs Insights Discovery Platform, which tracks 9 million global companies, 20K+ technologies and trends, as well as 150M patents, news articles, and market reports.

This data includes detailed firmographic insights into approximately 9 million startups, scaleups, and tech companies. Leveraging this exhaustive database, we provide actionable insights for startup scouting, trend discovery, and technology landscaping.

For this report, we focused on the evolution of contactless technology over the past 5 years, utilizing our platform’s trend intelligence feature. Key data points analyzed include:

  • Total Companies working in the sector
  • News Coverage and Annual Growth
  • Market Maturity and Patents
  • Global Search Volume & Growth
  • Funding Activity and Top Countries
  • Subtrends within Contactless Technology

Our data is refreshed regularly, enabling trend comparisons for deeper insights into their relative impact and importance.

Additionally, we reviewed trusted external resources to supplement our findings with broader market data and predictions, ensuring a reliable and comprehensive overview of the contactless technology market.

What Data is used to create this Contactless Technology Market Report?

Based on data provided by the StartUs Insights Discovery Platform, we observe that the contactless technology market stands out in the following categories relative to the 20K+ technologies and trends we track.

These categories provide a comprehensive overview of the market’s key metrics and inform the future direction of the market.

  • News Coverage & Publications: The market saw more than 80 publications in the past year. These reports highlighted developments in contactless payments, identification systems, and proximity-based technologies.
  • Funding Rounds: Our database records 32 400+ funding rounds, which reflects steady investor interest across hardware, software, and platform providers.
  • Manpower: The contactless technology workforce reached over 7.5 million employees. More than 2000 new workers joined last year as adoption expanded across retail, transport, and public services.
  • Patents: Coming to patent filings, the total is 740 200. These figures indicate ongoing innovation in NFC, biometrics, and secure authentication technologies.
  • Yearly Global Search Growth: The search interest rose by 600% globally during the year. There is growing awareness and demand for contactless solutions among enterprises and consumers.

Explore the Data-driven Contactless Technology Market Report for 2026

The global contactless payment market is projected to register a CAGR of 12.3% between 2025 and 2034. Mastercard reported that contactless payments accounted for more than 75% of all transactions on its network in 2025.

Also, the global contactless biometrics technology market is expected to reach USD 47.6 billion by 2033, with a CAGR of 17.7% from 2024 to 2033.

According to StartUs Insights’ Discovery Platform, the contactless technology market includes more than 1650 startups within a broader ecosystem of 91 900+ companies. It reflects expansion across payments, access control, and digital identity use cases.

The yearly industry growth stands at 2.11%. This indicates gradual market maturation as enterprises integrate contactless solutions into retail, mobility, healthcare, and public infrastructure systems.

Innovation continues, with more than 740 200 patents recorded. There are developments in NFC, biometrics, QR-based systems, and secure authentication technologies.

The market also employs about 7.5 million people worldwide. It added more than 2000 employees last year, showing stable workforce demand despite slower overall company growth.

Moreover, the United States, the United Kingdom, India, Germany, and Canada serve as leading country hubs. At the city level, London, New York City, Singapore, Bangalore, and Shenzhen anchor activity within the ecosystem.

 

 

A Snapshot of the Global Contactless Technology Market

The contactless technology market records an annual growth of 2.11%. The ecosystem includes 1650 startups, reflecting entrepreneurial participation alongside established technology providers and financial infrastructure companies.

The patent activity reached 740 200 filings from 224 900 applicants. Also, the yearly patent growth stood at 4.97%, which signals ongoing innovation despite moderate overall market growth.

China led patent issuance with 267 800+ filings, followed by the United States with over 180 740.

In addition, the contactless payment patent ecosystem remains active worldwide. More than 70% of filings originated from three jurisdictions: the United States at 51%, South Korea at 24%, and China at 25%.

Explore the Funding Landscape of the Contactless Technology Market

The contactless technology market records an average investment value of USD 38.2 million per funding round. The consistent capital is allocated toward scalable digital payment and access solutions.

More than 24 800 investors participate in the ecosystem, with broad interest from venture capital firms, corporate investors, and financial institutions.

Our database tracks over 32 400 closed funding rounds. These figures highlight steady financing activity across early-stage startups and mature technology providers.

In total, more than 8600 companies have received funding. This underscores the depth of the market and the commercialization of contactless technologies across multiple industries.

Besides, the contactless payment solutions and digital wallets ecosystem includes 305 companies. Collectively, they raised USD 867.22 billion in public funding rounds as of October 2025.

The funding distribution shows specific geographic concentration. The United States accounts for USD 369.47 billion, Asia contributes USD 397.25 billion, and Europe represents USD 48.48 billion of total funding.

Who is Investing in the Contactless Technology Market?

The combined value invested by top investors exceeds USD 20 billion, showing concentrated capital deployment across major contactless technology innovators.

 

 

  • Tiger Global invested USD 4.2 billion across 39 companies.
  • Walmart invested USD 2.6 billion across 3 companies.
  • Flipkart invested USD 2.3 billion across 3 companies. The investment includes USD 30 million in Super.money in September 2025.
  • Goldman Sachs invested USD 2 billion across 29 companies.
  • General Atlantic invested USD 1.8 billion across 13 companies. It made USD 600 million investments in PhonePe as a secondary transaction in October 2025.
  • GIC invested USD 1.7 billion across 17 companies.
  • Tencent invested USD 1.5 billion across 25 companies.
  • DST Global invested USD 1.4 billion across 25 companies.
  • JP Morgan invested USD 1.4 billion across 11 companies.
  • SoftBank invested USD 1.4 billion across 15 companies.

Top Contactless Technology Innovations & Trends

Discover the emerging trends in the contactless technology market along with their firmographic details:

 

 

  • QR Code Analytics segment includes 420 companies that develop tools to track scans, user behavior, and transaction outcomes across retail, mobility, and digital payments. These companies employ 5300 people worldwide and added over 4 employees last year. The trend recorded annual growth of 21.89%, driven by demand for measurable engagement and data-backed contactless interactions.
  • Real-time AI trend involves 3100 companies applying instant data processing to fraud detection, authentication, and dynamic transaction approvals in contactless systems. The segment employs 88 000 workers and added 90 employees last year. It has an annual trend growth rate of 42.38%, which indicates the adoption of AI-driven decision-making in contactless environments.
  • NFC Labels segment includes 110+ companies focused on embedded tags for product identification, access control, and secure item-level interactions. These companies employ 8100 people and added 2 employees last year, showing slower workforce expansion. Also, the trend recorded an annual growth of 0.59%.

5 Top Examples from 1650+ Innovative Contactless Technology Startups

The five innovative startups showcased below are picked based on data including the trend they operate within and their relevance, founding year, funding status, and more. Book a demo to find promising startups, emerging trends, or industry data specific to your company’s needs and objectives.

Media Contactless builds Contactless Management Platform

Swiss startup Media Contactless develops an IoT-enabled platform that integrates NFC technology into physical products to deliver digital content during consumer interaction.

It embeds NFC chips into products and connects them to a SaaS dashboard. Companies use this dashboard to match products with content, schedule campaigns, and manage when and where information appears.

Consumers tap a product with an NFC-enabled smartphone, and the system delivers marketing messages, e-commerce links, instructions, or other digital experiences without requiring extra applications.

The platform tracks product interactions in real time and supports coordination across supply chains. It also centralizes hardware selection, chip integration, and software management.

Adapt ID creates Contactless Identification Cards & Tags

UK-based startup Adapt ID connects physical products with digital services using integrated hardware and software. It produces NFC cards, tags, signs, and accessories that link directly to its cloud platform. The users activate products by tapping and manage digital profiles, content, and workflows from a central dashboard.

The platform synchronizes contact sharing, reviews, menus, bookings, ordering, inventory, and reporting. It also integrates with partner software systems to support data capture and operational coordination.

Also, the startup manufactures and prints products using sustainability-focused materials. It supports rapid deployment with in-stock hardware and unified platform management.

Invisible Sun Technology enables Contactless Facility Management

US-based startup Invisible Sun Technology creates a contactless facility management platform that provides real-time visibility into workforce activity, asset usage, and service delivery performance.

 

 

The startup deploys Bluetooth beacons across facilities, assigns smart tags to staff and equipment, and transmits movement and time data to a cloud dashboard for automated validation.

The platform verifies scheduled tasks, tracks assets, and records time and attendance without manual check-ins, QR codes, or user input. It compares actual performance against defined scopes to generate compliance scores.

In addition, it provides alerts, reports, and occupancy insights that support hygiene standards, maintenance planning, and operational accountability across healthcare, commercial buildings, transportation, and manufacturing.

BluSim Tech offers Continuous & Contactless Vitals Monitoring

Singaporean startup BluSim Tech develops contactless vital monitoring technology that enables real-time health observation in elderly care and nursing home settings.

It combines a non-contact sensing mat with connected devices and cloud software to capture micro-vibrations from heartbeats, respiration cycles, and body movements using ballistocardiography and edge computing.

The system processes multimodal data locally and transmits analyzed signals to secure web and mobile applications. AI models then detect anomalies, falls, presence, sleep patterns, posture changes, and early signs of patient deterioration.

Besides, the platform preserves privacy with camera-free data collection, encryption at the point of capture, and ISO-aligned data storage. It also supports private cloud deployments.

Oror provides Interactive Holographic Kiosks

French startup Oror builds interactive holographic kiosk technology that delivers digital experiences in physical spaces such as retail, events, and hospitality.

It manufactures custom kiosks that integrate holographic displays, interactive interfaces, and tailored digital content to present products and information with guided storytelling.

The solution combines hardware design, interface development, and content creation. This supports interactive product discovery, brand communication, and deployment across multiple use cases.

Oror offers both sales and rental models while maintaining full production control to ensure consistent quality and functional reliability.

Gain Comprehensive Insights into Contactless Technology Trends, Startups, and Technologies

The contactless technology market will continue to grow steadily in 2026 as payments, access control, and digital identity systems become standard across consumer and enterprise environments.

In the future, the emphasis will be on biometric authentication, tokenized credentials, and privacy-preserving security frameworks that build trust in contactless interactions.

Also, emerging areas such as wearable-based payments, ultra-wideband positioning, and decentralized identity solutions will expand contactless use cases beyond current implementations.

Get in touch to explore 1650+ startups and scaleups, as well as all market trends impacting contactless technology companies worldwide.