Meet Pavlok, Wearable Payments Newcomer
Did you catch the season finale of Shark Tank last week?
That escalated quickly! https://t.co/cFjjz3dWN8
— Shark Tank (@ABCSharkTank) May 21, 2016
Yikes..
For those who didn’t: the product pitched in the above episode, Pavlok, is a wearable device that uses zaps, taps, beeps and vibrations to train the human mind out of bad habits, such as smoking, nail biting or even overspending.
Since March, financial services software provider Intelligent Environments has been experimenting with Pavlok, by linking it to individual bank accounts, to automatically 
users who are about to splurge at a restaurant or a favorite store. The initiative is still in its early stages, Sims McGrath III, director of sales and marketing at Pavlok, told Bank Innovation, but the company has big plans in the wearable payments space:
Intelligent Environments completely and independently developed their algorithm and connection to link Pavlok to individual bank accounts, and we provided them with hardware. It was very cool what they were doing, and we are looking for ways to advance that innovation. So, for the next generation of Pavlok, we are looking into NFC payments. It would make so much sense for our device to also let you make payments, while encouraging good spending habits and sending zaps for bad. That’s the future for us.
Setting up alerts for budget lows, or for spending limits would also be part of Pavlok’s payments roadmap, McGrath said. “Banks already send their customers notifications through apps, but it’s very easy to ignore,” he added. “Physical sensation, Pavlovian method, is instantaneous and it has proven to work.”
As for the Shark Tank episode:
We really walked in there with hopes to make a deal with Mark or Lori, not Kevin. The episode was recorded in September of last year, and we didn’t have the resources yet. We completed our Indiegogo campaign only in 2014. We wish the Sharks would have a more open-minded, but we have no concern that we won’t be able to achieve our goals.
Check out Pavlok’s demo below.
