Best Startup
KwikTrust is the next generation e-validation platform, and the home of the SuperNFT.
The platform provides more secure file validation and management. The platform enables files to be uploaded and validated. This can include contracts, intellectual property, and proof of ownership of digital and physical assets.
We can also lock together the asset and owner’s validated identity into a NFT to create a transferable asset. This increases security over ‘old school’ NFTs. We call this the SuperNFT.
Our mission is to become the new global standard for signing and securing files, and transferring assets.
Tell us about yourself?
My background is tech. I’ve built and sold businesses previously. I’m also a mentor and a judge to several tech accelerators, and I helped to setup the ‘We In Social Tech’ accelerator in London for female tech founders who have a product with a social impact, which was sponsored by Deutsche Bank.
I first become interested in blockchain technologies and their potential when one of the companies I was mentoring on a tech accelerator decided to pivot to blockchain.
After that I did the Oxford Blockchain Strategy Program, which is where many of the KwikTrust team first met and started working together.
If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?
That’s a great question. My advice would be to build a great team first, even before your product is built. Don’t be afraid to collaborate with others early and share equity. I believe that a great team can overcome any problem in the design and building of your business so start with firm foundations. From there you can achieve great things!
What problem does your business solve?
The problems that we solve are the security risks, high costs and bad data inherent in the file validation process. Litigation is reliant on the authenticity of a document and different parties present their owns versions of a document that may not be identical. Bad actors manipulate files and users don’t want to reply on third party custodians, given the risks of deletion, and errors outside the users control. This causes massive costs and risks for businesses and individuals.
We’ve also solved a major problem in the field of NFTs.The NFT market is still in its relative infancy and we haven’t seen the true potential of NFTs yet, beyond digital artworks that we are seeing today.
Because NFTs can be lost or stolen, people don’t trust higher value assets to NFTs. This prevents the market from reaching its full potential.
We’ve created the SuperNFT which locks together the asset and owner’s validated identity into a NFT to create a transferable asset. This increases security over ‘old school’ NFTs. We’ve also filed a patent application for the SuperNFT.
By linking the owner’s validated identity to the asset people will be able to trust higher value assets to NFTs. This will open up the NFT market.
In the future we will see more assets – Digital and physical – represented as NFTs.
As I mentioned, we’ve filed a patent application for the SuperNFT. This will enable us to provide the technology to other platforms and marketplaces.
SuperNFTs can also be used as security in financial markets. This will change the NFT market paradigm.
In all 75 countries now have the legal mandates for this technology, including the US, EU and India.
What is the inspiration behind your business?
The inspiration for KwikTrust came from difficulties I encountered in the due diligence process and seeing the paradigm shift towards the use of digital document storage, digital signatures and even more people owning digital assets, which pushes everything ever more quickly into the digital realm.
We’ve seen this increase shift towards digital speed up over the last 18 months due to the restrictions that Covid lockdown has placed on many of us, and the need for people to work remotely away from their colleagues and business partners.
We may never return fully to working styles as they were pre-Covid, so people need new ways of engaging securely whilst working remotely.
What is your magic sauce?
Our magic sauce is definitely team.
We have in-house skills across tech, blockchain, finance, marketing and commercial skills. We also have an intellectual property expert, and an in-house legal team so we can keep on top of legislation and ensure we are regulatory compliant.
We also have team members situated across the US, Canada, UK, mainland Europe and Asia, so we have a real mix of cultures, skills and experiences.
What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?
We have an exciting product roadmap, and we will be rolling-out regular new features over the coming months. In addition we will be launching our KTX utility token, that people can use to access discounted services and to create their own SuperNFTs. The KTX will be listed on a public exchange in Q1 next year so people can actively trade the token.
Looking further ahead, we have started working with the legal sector as KwikTrust solves a major problem in this sector. Document authenticity is key to the legal process. Sometimes different parties in a court case present different versions of the same document and the Courts have to spend time working out which one is the original. KwikTrust solves this problem.
Working with the legal sector is also a great way to increase adoption. Lawyers have to work collaboratively with their clients, with other law firms and with the Courts.
From here we can step into the financial services sector, which also has great use cases.
Regarding the Super-NFT, because we can link together the user’s validated identity with the provenance and audit trail of the asset, we have a financial instrument that can be used as security in financial transactions. This can simplify and streamline the market and open up new opportunities.
Where will be be in 5 years? I don’t want to look too far ahead. The important goal for us right now is launching the KTX token and running pilots across a number of new vertical markets. I like to take small achievable steps so we can make meaningful progress every week. International legislation is constantly evolving to create new opportunities for our technology.
In the future the NFT market will open up into other asset classes – fractional ownership, intellectual property, stores of value, proof of ownership of physical assets, and financial instruments – but we still need legislation to catch up, and established market leaders to be visionary and undertake pilots. The outlook in this market is very exciting!
With the SuperNFT technology KwikTrust has the ability to be at the very forefront of this market!
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?
Our biggest challenge was building the prototype and testing it in the market with read-world users. We spent over two years building, testing, and asking for user feedback and then repeating the process. It was really important for us to build the prototype before launching the KTX utility token, so we could both validate the business use case and prove that our team has the ability to build a product and get it out into the market.
How do people get involved/buy into your vision?
We invite people to connect with us for collaboration, partnership and for running pilot projects in different verticals. To connect with us you can join our telegram community at https://t.me/KwikTrustOfficial, or connect with us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KwikTrust
or LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kwiktrust/. We’d love for some of you to join us on our journey!
