Interview with founder Pedro Martins, for JN / Dinheiro Vivo
Learn all about the beginning of 3NCRYPT3D, its benefits and the future of this company.
On the last 10th in a relaxed atmosphere, Pedro Martins, 3NCRYPT3D’s CEO, answered all the questions from journalist Ilídia Pinto, to one of the most read portugese newspapers, “Jornal de Notícias” (and its supplement “Dinheiro Vivo”).
Read the interview below or access the website, clicking here (in portuguese).
Technology 3NCRYPT3D. This app has the digital solution for your legacy
Written by: Ilída Pinto, for JN/Dinheiro Vivo
This service allows you to prepare messages for automatic sending in case of death or under user-defined circumstances.
Every year millions of euros remain unclaimed in bank accounts, life insurance and coffers all over the world because of ignorance of their legitimate heirs. Pedro Martins understood this when, after a very troubled flight that he found himself thinking “if this plane were to crash now…”, he researched for safe solutions in the market and discovered that there were no such solutions. That’s how 3NCRYPT3D was born, the Portuguese startup that ensures the technological solution to send ” critical information”, automatically, to relatives or business partners in case of death or other circumstances defined by the user.
The idea came up in 2011, but only in 2015, when Pedro Martins met Magne Olsen, husband of a childhood friend and “with many years of experience in programming, particularly in creating software for airports”, began to take shape. But it was only this year that the service was commercially launched, with the application available at the Apple Store, Google Play and Microsoft Store. “We had a very long development phase because there were two of us thinking about the solution, but only one implementing it. And the issue of data backup was crucial. Nobody can have access to information”, says Pedro Martins, CEO of 3NCRYPT3D, based in Vila Nova de Gaia and supported by Microsoft’s Bizspark program.
The solution was to implement a double encryption system, also called zero knowledge encryptation, which ensures that messages and attachments are encrypted in the application itself, with a single key – which only the user has on their device – before being stored on the company’s servers. ” This way, we guarantee that the information is protected from hackers, governments or spy agencies. Not even the 3NCRYPT3D staff can access it”, guarantees the entrepreneur.
A quick search on the Internet allows us to realize that, in the USA alone, it is estimated that there are more than 40 billion dollars to be claimed, either in bank accounts, insurance companies or with other entities. And, of course, we must always take into account the new realities, such as investors in cryptocurrencies. “If trading in cryptocurrencies is still something complex, how will someone who has thousands or millions of euros in the blockchain tell their family the details of their digital wallet and the respective access codes? The probability of that money being lost there is huge”, says Pedro Martins.
The service is available through an annual subscription for 69.90 and 99.90 euros, with the first option having a limitation on the number of messages to be sent. These are not limited to the possibility of death, which the application classifies as ‘the worst case scenario’. 3NCRYPT3D’s customer can also schedule the sending of timed messages, for a certain day and time, or instant confidential messages, which are only available in the premium plan. What makes the service interesting even for investigative journalists in risk scenarios or even polititians, everybody that wants to reassure the confidentiality of their information, highlights the company.
And how does 3NCRYPT3D know that something has happened to the user and that he should send the information he has stored? The customer must login to his account once every 30 days, a period that the company calls Heartbeat. If you don’t react to any of the four alert emails that the company sends you during those 30 days, after which you are 50%, 75%, 95% and 100% of the deadline, and if you remain inactive, your delivery trigger agents (DTA) will be contacted – trusted people that the customer himself will have defined when he created the account – to confirm if anything happened to you. The duration of the heartbeat period can be changed at the user’s initiative. “And even if your mobile phone is stolen, you can always go to a web café or to a computer in the hotel and login very simply to indicate to the system that everything is fine and de-authorize that mobile phone to access the account”, explains Pedro Martins.
Despite being originally founded in Portugal, the ambition is global. “In the next five years we want to control the world [laughs]! Well, we want the world to know that 3NCRYPT3D exists and whenever anyone wonders what to do to safeguard some kind of sensitive information that immediately thinks about our offer”, he says. “The financial results will be a consequence of that and will come naturally,” he adds. Brazil and Central America, where the risk “is very present in people’s daily lives”, are the targets, but first, the focus will be on South Africa, as soon as the translation of the documentation into English is finished. Then there will be Spanish.
Resulting from an investment of 50 thousand euros in equity and loans from family and friends, 3NCRYPT3D now has five people, all with skills in specific areas: Pedro Martins is the CEO and Magne Olsen is the Chief Technology Officer. Nuno Pinto da Silva ensures the strategic and partnership area and Beatriz Costa the marketing. Rita Brandão is the Chief Operating Officer.
In Portugal, the company seeks to establish “strategic partnerships” with banks and insurance companies, such as the one it has already signed with fintech nBanks. And in November it will be at the Web Summit to make itself known and contact potential investors. Pedro Martins admits that, sooner or later, access to venture capital will be “essential”. But the idea is to get smart money in, that is, someone who contributes know-how and not just money.
Image credits: Fabio Poço/ Global Imagens
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