With the amount of stores that accept contactless payments on the rise, more innovators are coming forward with ideas for making transactions more swift, easy and secure.

Contactless payment readers communicate with smart devices using radio-frequency identification (RFID) or near field communication (NFC). Apple Pay is probably the most recognized digital wallet as of yet, there’s also Google Wallet, Samsung Pay and banks are in on the act, such as Barclays with their bPay system.

London-based Philip Campbell, the founder of Kerv is looking to take on the big guns by matching their efficiency, but also adding some style in the form of a smart ring. The founder of Kerv has eight years experience in payment solutions and a background in creative digital. On the Kerv Kickstarter page he expresses his discontent with existing wearable payment tech, saying it’s ugly, expensive and limited.

The Kerv smart ring has been successful on Kickstarter, raising £92,348 with 1,827 backers – surpassing the goal of £77,000, and the campaign still has 6 days left run.

Unlike the majority of wearables which pack different functions and features under one roof, such as biometric tracking, smart notifications, etc; Kerv just concentrates on NFC, whether it’s for payments in a store, getting on the tube, paying for a taxi or opening locks in your smarthome.

With its secure NFC chip, the Kerv smart ring can be used in any location worldwide that displays the contactless payment symbol where Visa and Mastercard contactless cards are accepted. Once your account has been activated funds can be topped up through the online portal, you can also link your bank or PayPal to the account so your balance will be automatically topped up when you’re running low.

There is a limit on Kerv payment amounts: £30 UK, €25 Euro Zone, $25 U.S, $100 Canada, $100 Australia, $80 New Zealand, and €15 Ireland. If you wish to make higher-value purchases you can request an optional Kerv MasterCard® contactless (prepaid) card to be linked to the account.

The Kerv smart NFC ring is waterproof and will be available in a range of sizes to fit all fingers. It has an estimated shipping date of April 2016 with a retail price of around £50 including £20 of credit.