#407 Biometric Security Reinvented: Eli Farhood on Eliminating Passwords with KatshID

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Mehmet: Hello and welcome back to a new episode of the CTO show with Mehmet. Today I'm very pleased joining me from the US, Eli Farhood, who's the founder and CEO of KatshID. Eli, thank you very much for being with me here today on the show. I really appreciate the time and the time difference. It's early for you.

Mehmet: [00:01:00] They're still on the West Coast. So, Eli, The way I like to do it, as I was telling you before we start the recording, is I keep it to my guests to introduce themselves, to tell us a little bit about your background, your journey, and what you are currently up to, and then we can start the discussion from there.

Mehmet: So the floor is yours.

Eli: Thank you, Mehmet. Well, I want to first thank you for having me. It's a pleasure to share my story with your audience and, you know, trying to help people be aware of cyber security risks in our world today. My background is in finance. I spent more than 20 years in financial services.

Eli: And, uh, the reason why I'm into cybersecurity today is because I fell victim to fraud twice, not just once. Last year was, uh, in 2023, my second fraud incident, where I was about to lose thousands of dollars on my credit cards, it was a bunch of unauthorized transactions that were taking place on one of my cards and, um, [00:02:00] and that, that Kind of like detrimental to some extent because in the US here like when you have large frauds on your account Most institutions first will share the incident.

Eli: So if it happens with one bank, all the banks will probably know about it. And once that happens, they start curbing your credit availability. Your credit report falls. Uh, you, you, you start struggling with, you know, uh, such a fraud taking place. And, um, yeah, we started this, uh, company called catch ID. Uh, where we wanted to solve this problem, you know, I've been, uh, going through this, uh, the second time, the first time it was, it was a real struggle because, uh, the first time someone I met back then, um, was collecting my information behind my back.

Eli: And one day he uses that information to access my bank account. And, uh, he was really successful in, in, uh, [00:03:00] trying to take money from my account. And. These all together, uh, put me on this path to try to solve the problem that we want to discuss today. And what is the big problem? It's, you know, your personal information.

Eli: Anywhere in this world, governments, agencies, they use personal information to identify who you are. We called it technically in, in cyber security, PII, personal identifying information. And this is the, this is the risk today, you know, uh, we have this elephant in the room called data breaches and these data breaches, they're happening more common than ever right now.

Eli: Especially with AI now, uh, fraudsters have. Uh, strong technological tools that they can use to their advantage to hack networks and compromise hundreds of millions of accounts just [00:04:00] with one attack. Um, and so once that takes place, you know, um, our information becomes in the wrong hand. And this is what I really want to about today and try to inform your audience about the risks of.

Eli: Taking this lightly.

Mehmet: Sure. Absolutely. And thank you for taking the time. I know like how much it can be can get busy for you as a as a founder and CEO. So you mentioned like kind of the I would say the motives for you, which I think, you know, everyone of us have faced this problem of. Either getting scammed or like, you know, getting his data stolen.

Mehmet: I want to, you know, from you to, to highlight. And because you mentioned something very important about our personal information. So, and, and, you know, I like the way you called it, the elephant in the room, because it is the elephant in the room. Like we cannot, live [00:05:00] today without having our personal information living somewhere on the internet, right?

Mehmet: So now what I want you to need to explain to us before I come, you know, about what exactly KatchID do and how you help, uh, you know, uh, the consumers or like businesses even in the solving this problem. So let's, let's go back and find out, uh, Why this happens in the first place, like, like, you know, like a little bit of the tactics and the mechanisms that we see these, uh, as we call them in cyber security threat actors, they keep again and again being successful in doing that, although, like, also, we see And you come from banking and you know, like bank, banks keeps like sending us, Hey, don't open this link.

Mehmet: Don't do that. Don't do this. But still, why we are still facing this problem, Elie. I want you like, if you want like to cover this, you know, the roots of the problem and why it's still happening and that we can continue from [00:06:00] there.

Eli: I love your question. Yeah, you know, the root of the problem is the fact that all networks have vulnerabilities, you know, um, Hacking groups are constantly looking around and trying to scan networks all across the, uh, uh, the, the, across the internet.

Eli: And they're trying to find vulnerabilities wherever, it's like, Think of this like, like your house, right? It has windows, it has doors, it has multiple entry and exits. And they're literally trying to find if there's a broken glass here or an unlocked door there and trying to get in, snoop into your house.

Eli: to steal things. And this is literally the same thing. I hope I was able like to convey this properly. This is literally what happens. You have a network, a digital network that is publicly available. We call it public domain that stores a lot of information. That these businesses used on a day to day basis for their operations [00:07:00] and these informations are kind of like stored inside that house, which is the network and those can hacking groups are, you know, trying to infiltrate themselves into that, so to speak, house to gain access to the to that information in a lot of cases.

Eli: And we've seen it with, you know, Large enterprise like Microsoft, uh, AT& T just recently, uh, multiple actually companies, uh, Equifax in 2017. I mean, I can go over and over, like, the list is pretty long on how many companies were compromised. And we're not talking about small businesses here. We're talking about Trillion dollar company being compromised.

Eli: We're talking about like if Microsoft can't protect its network, then what would the average Joe say, you know, or think or feel about safety on the Internet? Right? And so it's just a history shows. Uh, and if you just go back even [00:08:00] 50 years. That no one has been able to successfully protect data from being compromised.

Eli: It just didn't happen. I know. I think even the FBI was compromised at some point. And so when you think about that, how much, how, how much the stakes are high and the risks of housing publicly available information, uh, on your network, you realize that it's kind of like a lost war, right? And those hacking groups are always somehow some way.

Eli: It are able to infiltrate, find their way into that network because networks are essentially a very complex structures, right? And because they're highly complex, there's always somehow somewhere, uh, a vulnerability that they can exploit. to gain access to that network. And so I, that's the, the, the, the simplest way I can really, uh, [00:09:00] explain it to you and to your audience.

Mehmet: So what I understand, and of course I know the answer, but again, like it's coming from you as an expert. Uh, so it's something that we cannot avoid because you mentioned something very you know, accurate, I would say that these are complex systems. They will have vulnerabilities, you know, there's no way.

Mehmet: And again, at the same time, we don't have other choice other than utilizing these systems, because, you know, like let's take banking, because again, you come from, uh, a banking background. So I can't imagine at least myself, you know, without using my online banking or the mobile app of my bank, because, you know, I pay my bills through it.

Mehmet: I do a lot of activities through it right now. Uh, so some people I think, which is also part of the problem. And I want you also to touch on that early, because I think, you know, before we start the recording, you touch on that, but again, let's do it now within the recording itself. [00:10:00] Uh, so some people, you know, sometimes are like, still, okay.

Mehmet: Why I should care. Like I have nothing, for example, I don't have these big amounts in the bag. Why I should care. Uh, like, okay, let them take my information. What, what will happen? But they don't understand, you know, like the consequences. So I want you like a little bit also to shed some light. No, like we should be caring about our personal information because You know, they can do things like money laundering, you know, they can do, uh, pretend to be us like they can do like many things.

Mehmet: So I want you also to highlight about this identity, why it's important for, for someone to take care of their identity and their personal information online.

Eli: Yeah, I can't emphasize enough on that. Uh, I heard that from so many consumers when I was conducting customer discovery for our product catch and I hear from people saying, well, I'm not Elon [00:11:00] Musk.

Eli: I'm not a billionaire. Like who knows who, like, I'm not so not known as a person. I'm not popular. I'm just an average person. I don't even have maybe 200 in my bank account and I don't care. I don't want to really care. I don't want to care. I don't care. If someone sees that information. 'cause for me, it's just a hassle.

Eli: Um, and that's really the wrong approach, uh, to, to, to think of this because, and whenever these data breaches happen, they're actually providing our sensitive information to hacking groups. And when this, uh, when they get gain access to that information, what they do basically is either sell it or resell it.

Eli: They either use it to conduct illicit activities. And they, they probably will, you know, steal money from your account. So you have these three risks and there are other more, of course, but these, let's just focus on these major three risks. Right. You either [00:12:00] get hacked because people want to steal money from your account or people want to hack you by creating a fake account under your name to conduct illicit activities, or people are going to just resell your information and make money out of it.

Eli: It's a business literally. And so you can't just take that approach and say, well, I only have 200 in my bank account. Who cares about me? I can, I can, I don't have to take care of my personal information. And if they want to steal it. It's okay, Facebook has it, like I've heard this so many times, Facebook already have my, have my information, so I don't care.

Eli: Yeah, that's the really wrong approach, because I was, I was that guy back in the days, and what happened is that someone was collecting my information without my knowledge, and one day he, Called my bank, provided my personal information and claimed my identity. And he was successful to access my checking account.

Eli: And that was an identity theft incident that [00:13:00] really I had to go through and struggle for. About two and a half to three years to clear my name. I've had legal issues. I had financial struggle. Um, it's just a mess. Identity theft is not something that you should take lightly at all. It can really ruin your life.

Eli: And I can't tell you enough how much time consuming it is just to go through this. And so that's why we should take the security of our personal information very seriously, very, very seriously, because it's Uh, it's not a matter of, uh, if it's gonna happen, it's more when it's gonna happen, because somehow, some way, every one of us will have some sort of identity theft, and identity theft, you know, can take so many shapes and forms.

Eli: It's not just about someone claiming your identity at your bank account. Uh, at your banking institution, it could be also an unauthorized transaction, like it happened again to me, right. Uh, with large amounts, uh, that can [00:14:00] also wreak havoc into your life. It can be, uh, someone trying to, you know, uh, really trying to compromise you in a way that they have access now, but not just to your information.

Eli: That information provides them access to your business information on your device. It provides them access to your personal and sensitive information. Yup. Any kind of information that they can use because when your device is compromised, this is like a very clear example, you know, they have access to everything, right?

Eli: That your business email, your personal life, they have access to your contacts, to your friends. They can actually send emails to your friends and try to set them up. Your friends will probably take that email seriously and believe it because it's coming from you. Like there are so many ways they can do to cause harm.

Eli: And you don't want to do that. You really have to be very careful. And so the right approach in our view and based on my personal experience is that you want to do whatever it takes. [00:15:00] To protect your personal information from falling in the wrong hands, and I'm going to be very honest. It's a hard job.

Eli: It's not an easy job,

Mehmet: right? And just, you know, as you know, a small addition from my side, if you allow me, uh, So people, because they always, and I think, you know, maybe, maybe Hollywood made this, uh, you know, you know, kind of stereotype. Oh, the hackers only are interested in stealing money, for example, or breaking into systems.

Mehmet: But because you mentioned something, if someone managed to get, let's say, My, uh, government ID, right? So they can go and open, uh, you know, they can take a phone line and then once they have the phone line, they can open maybe probably a bank account because they have all the information, right? And then they can.

Mehmet: Take money and either they will be doing money laundering or they would be doing even something worse. God [00:16:00] forbid, they would be supporting maybe like, uh, dangerous groups or, you know, like terrorism or something like this, but all that is happening under my name. And this is the big issue now. So, you know, like, you know, people, when they say, let

Eli: me give you three examples, like, uh, sometimes you can be stopped by a cop while you're driving your car.

Mehmet: Right.

Eli: Have a great week. And he tells you that you have, um, a ticket or you have some sort of, uh, fraud on your driving license. And they will apprehend you. They can take you to prison for that. Essentially, in some cases, you never did this, uh, uh, bad act. It was someone who stole your driving license and did it under your name.

Eli: Uh, here's another example for finance. So I know someone actually, this is a very, very, very, uh, not, I would say very, like a story that tells you so much [00:17:00] how bad things are. One friend I know, actually his son had his, uh, social security compromised. He's just five and his son, you know, was, you know, uh, going to college.

Eli: And one day he learns that he has 50, 000 of debt on his file, on his credit file. And they didn't know about it until that moment. So someone used their, uh, social security number to create an account and withdraw money under a loan from a banking institution. This is a five year old, right? And so this is like these examples just tells you how, how bad things are.

Eli: Here's another example where, um, I've, I've heard about it from my customer discovery while we were conducting research with the University of California to just discover, like, how big is the problem, why this is happening. Some people actually realized [00:18:00] that someone used their information to conduct a surgery.

Eli: at the medical center. And they only learned about that surgery once they got the copayment through the insurance. Just think of those examples, like how much personal information is important and it represents who you are and how many people can exploit it in so many ways. financially, medically, uh, even as simple as, uh, seeing your driving license.

Eli: And so when you think about personal information, you go back to square one. Okay. My information is compromised. Um, the risks are that someone can use that information to create pony accounts under my name. They can conduct illicit activities, illegal acts. Uh, for money laundering purposes and other vehicles.

Eli: And when they fall for it, I fall for it. Cause my name is in the, in the game here, it's, it's not theirs. So as hacking groups, they won't really get [00:19:00] a scaff here. You're the one who's, who's going to have to deal with this. And this is again, one of the reasons why, uh, personal information is extremely important to, to just fast forward.

Eli: Like we talked so much about that. Now. I want to tell your audience the most important element is that when we, when we started thinking of a solution for, for that threat and vulnerability in our digital life, we decided to eliminate credentials from, from the equation of cyber security from identity.

Eli: We thought that, okay, history shows that you can't protect information. History shows that. Uh, the largest technology company in the world are getting compromised and hacked. So if they can't protect themselves, then average users are definitely at risk. And due to those facts, we decided to create a product that allows you to authorize who can use your information [00:20:00] so that no one can really, uh, gain access to your identity anymore.

Eli: So think of this today, You have your information. I hear this narrative a lot in the marketplace. Well, Google has my information. Facebook has my information. They're the one who is selling it, making money on that information that they have about me, right? And there's this new narrative in the marketplace that we also catch, you know, are part of is that we want to give you back control.

Eli: over who can use your information. This is your personal information. Not any giant or tech company has any rights to use it for any reason. And every time that information has to be used, We came up with this concept that allows you to authorize who can use it. So we're, we want to bring back control to the consumers and so that they can control who can use their information whenever, [00:21:00] wherever.

Eli: And for what purpose they need it. Uh, so a quick example today, I would throw this. Um, if you want to create a bank account, that's what normally happens. You just have your personal information. You go online to the website, you click apply, you enter your information and you can probably get your account open in five minutes.

Eli: You can get approval instantly with some institutions. Actually, most institutions will confirmation in just a few minutes of account opening. This is how it is today. And that's why, you know, attacking groups are able to use that information very well. You know, that information is very valuable now because you can, you can create fake accounts with anyone's information.

Eli: What we want to change is to give you back. That control, like this is your information. You have to decide who can use it and where they can use it [00:22:00] and why they're using it. And so we created KatchID. KatchID is basically a hand scan on a smart device. It's a biometric signature. It represents who you are as an individual.

Eli: And with that signature, you authorize. Who can use your information every time you need it, so that no one can really take advantage of that data.

Mehmet: So Eli, how is this different from other biometric technologies, if you want to explain a little bit about that?

Eli: That's a great question. Most biometric systems today rely, uh, I would say the reliable ones rely on a special device.

Eli: So if you think of face ID, right, it, it requires special hardware on your phone. If you don't have that hardware, you're probably not going to be able to use it. Uh, if you take the Amazon one, for example, pay with your palm, same thing that convenience and that security is only available where the device is available.

Eli: Um, We are at the airport. I'm not sure if you've used it, but [00:23:00] it's it's for security checkpoints. Uh, biometric one that really saves you so much time. And it's so amazing as a technology. But again, it's only available where the device is available. Most reliable biometric systems. Do somehow rely on a special device, either a token or a USB or any kind of sort, uh, and we decided to create a product that works on any device.

Eli: So that is device agnostic and it'll not, does not require that technicality, that, that technical barrier, the hardware, uh, so that we are able to provide you access on any device. That's the whole point of catch. And because we were able to do that. We were able to eliminate passwords. So credentials. And that's also another important element.

Eli: Think of this. What if you can live your life digitally and even physically, I mean, in real life, what if you can live your life [00:24:00] without having to deal with passwords, without having to reset passwords, without having to manage passwords? Just think of this. upper for a moment. You don't need to attract authentication.

Eli: You don't need passwords, no more credentials. Your hand becomes your password. That's what we're trying to build here. That's what we're trying to achieve is to replace credentials. With a hand scan on any device when we started building this, it was actually we were thinking of military use because we want to provide strong biometric security.

Eli: But then when I fell victim to fraud, we realized that there is a civilian application. And so the market is open. Much more bigger there and the pain is much bigger to know, you know, there's, there's a pain on, on the enterprise level called credential management. There's a pain on the [00:25:00] consumer side called also credential management.

Eli: Um, Mehmet, how many passwords do you have?

Mehmet: Uh, a lot,

Eli: right? How much time does it take you to manage those passwords and reset them every now and then? And if you forgot those passwords, are you using password managers?

Mehmet: Yeah, I use password manager, but again, the password manager itself, it has a, you know, it needs another password manager to hold the password of the vault.

Mehmet: Yeah, it's like

Eli: a vault, you know, you want to protect it. You want to make sure that no one has access to that. I once, my password manager, by the way, stopped working for some reason. There was a technical glitch in it. And my life was frozen for two consecutive days. I couldn't do anything, access any account that wasn't already because I don't know any of my passwords.

Eli: No one knows their passwords, right? It's very hard to keep track of those passwords. So there's a strong pain on, at all levels, you know, consumer level, business level, and because credentials [00:26:00] are important, our solution was to Who can use my information or anyone's information,

Mehmet: right? And I know, like, especially in business, this is one of the biggest threat because, you know, identity theft in businesses specifically, you know, what they do, the account takeovers and all this, especially, you know, People, they think there's a magic wand for everything.

Mehmet: So assuming that they are, we have put some technologies that can prevent, but actually it doesn't stop all the time. So it's very interesting, uh, uh, like, you know, like the technology that you have developed. So tell me more about like, Is it like something I have as government entity, as a bank to install it and then enable it to my, uh, customers or the people who will interact with my services?

Mehmet: Or is it like, you know, if you can [00:27:00] like little bit demystify this part for us.

Eli: Yeah, you know, our futuristic vision here is that because we are eliminating passwords and two factor authentication and because we're asking, we're replacing those with a hand scan on any smart device. So that means it works on your iPhone.

Eli: It works on your iPad. It works on your laptop. It works anywhere. There's a camera because we're able to do that. The idea and the futuristic vision is that you can also use your hand for payments. So let's let's let's go over a few examples. You can go to the gas station, pay with your hands. You don't need your phone.

Eli: You don't need your wallet. You know, you don't need a credit card. And what the risk you're eliminating here is that you could lose those, right? You can lose your card. You can lose your wallet. You can lose your phone. So there is now disappears in that concept. Also, you can walk into a cafe. Okay. And by, for example, [00:28:00] coffee was just scanning your hand there.

Eli: You don't need a credit card. You don't need anything else. Uh, you could unlock your door, your pops with your hand. You don't need keys on you. You could unlock your business, uh, door, like gate. When you go to your company, like you want to access to that gate, you can unlock it there. You can unlock your parking lot.

Eli: You can use your hands for everything. Think of this. Like what if. We don't have to hold keys anymore. We don't care if we have a phone, we don't have to carry credit cards and you just use your hand to go about your day for everything you need from buying things to accessing, uh, places to exchanging services.

Eli: That's the vision we have for Catch in the future. Obviously, there's a lot of work to be done until we reach that stage. It's not tomorrow. But that's where we're headed in our project. This is what we're trying to build now [00:29:00] to eliminate all the hassle, all the risks, especially when it comes to security.

Eli: And, you know, the, the, the, the technology is actually giving us that leverage because we were building it to, to military use. So it's a very strong, it involves a lot of security levers in it.

Mehmet: Absolutely. Now, uh, you know, it's very interesting. Now I can't have any conversation nowadays, and especially again, something that that's cybersecurity without touching on the AI part.

Mehmet: So. Uh, are you leveraging any A. I. machine learning in the technology and how you have seen it also like, you know, as a technology, you know, being utilized in what we were speaking about before. So because, you know, we start to see also they use AI for defects and all these things. So I want you also to highlight the factor of the eye from both sides, like I mean from the attacker sites and with what you [00:30:00] are currently doing.

Eli: Yeah. Thank you for bringing AI because it is definitely a big threat. And when we built the technology, it was literally to fend off those threats because they, I, I'm not sure if you've heard about it, but there's a Hong Kong based company that wired 25 million to a deep. I'm sure you've heard about it.

Eli: I mean, it's been all over the news. And this tells you how much AI has capacity to, uh, be used for, uh, you know, bad acts from those hacking groups. They, they can use AI and they can leverage AI because it helps them automate things. And make things more genuine, like back in the days, I remember if they want to, um, fool you with a, with a real website, someone has to go that website and make it look like the real one.

Eli: Let's say you were logging into your email account. They would probably, like, take a [00:31:00] few days, maybe a few weeks to build that website that will look like the real actual site. And so that when they send you the link. And you're not really looking well. Uh, you click on it, it takes you to the website and you're like, Oh, it looks like, it looks like my Gmail.

Eli: Let me put my username and password. And then there you go. They got your information. Um, now AI helps them do this in a few seconds, maybe a few minutes. Just one click. They can copy cat. Uh, website and make it look really jammed so they can leverage AI now to the worst, not just that AI, because of the, it's generative, you know, technologies that is involved.

Eli: Now they can actually copy any kind of information and recreate even your face. Um, I'm not sure you didn't ask me about this, but I can, I just remember like, this is an important element. When we were building Katch, we thought of a biometric option that is very effective. And, you know, [00:32:00] facial recognition, when you think of biometric recognition, you, you would think first off fingerprint, right?

Eli: Or face. I mean, this is the first thing that comes to mind. But when we were choosing the biometric option, we, we, we did a lab test and a lot of research to figure out what is the best biometric option for a digital ID. And we thought of the hand, you know, based on our research, the hand turns out to be one of the best biometrics.

Eli: And part of the reason is because it is not available. Like, for example, your facial data, your face is available on Facebook, is available on LinkedIn, is available all over the place. If now my face is available, I'm, I'm, I'm being hosted on a podcast show, right? So, uh, your face is, is accessible. The data is accessible, and that's not good.

Eli: When it comes to fingerprint, it turns out that fingerprints are easily replicated using a 3D [00:33:00] printer. Very easy, not very hard to replicate that. If you think of iris, same thing. The reason why those biometrics are not a good option is because there are static biometrics. What I mean by static is that like 80 percent of that biometric doesn't change, right?

Eli: My face will always look the same while your hand has a strong advantage. It, it, it is really dynamic. You know, you can, you can 3d print that. So, uh, also your hand is not available on Facebook. What that's why we call it a voluntary biometric, meaning you, you're the one who will show up your hand. No one can really, uh, here's another example.

Eli: You can be walking down the streets. Cameras are all over the place, uh, um, for, for security reasons like CCTV cameras, and they're capturing your face, but they're not capturing your hand. So the hand turns out has a, [00:34:00] Very strong, uh, uh, technological advantage over the face due to its security. It's availability, and it actually is more accurate in AI detection because we're using AI to recognize that this is Mehmet, for example, on top of that, the hand also does not discriminate against people of color races.

Eli: Which we've seen, you know, with facial recognition, it's been a growing concern and also as a private diameter. Like I think because you're telling me you're, you're based in Dubai, I was thinking, okay, I've been in Dubai. I worked there for many years and I know that people have privacy concerns showing their faces, especially locals in the Arabian peninsula.

Eli: Like they don't, they don't like to show their faces. Like for them, it could be cultural. It could be religious. Uh, I'm not sure exactly why, but people don't like to show their faces. It's a very private [00:35:00] part of them. They want to keep it, you know, uh, undisclosed. So we thought the hand also would be more receptive.

Eli: By the consumer, especially in those geographies. So, yeah, I think the hand is one of the best biometric options that any system can use for identification. And we have already Amazon. I mean, I'm not sure if you've seen Amazon, but Amazon has built like a hand recognition where you can pay with your palm and you're probably going to ask me like, hey, why, how are you different from Amazon?

Eli: And the quick answer is we don't need a special hardware. Yeah. That's the difference. Really? It's the same amount of security, even better, but talking about the logistics here, the fact that we don't need a hardware and it works on any smart device, that makes it very, very advantageous for the consumer because you will get that convenience anywhere.

Eli: We have three pillars, you know, that we were focusing on [00:36:00] when we were building Catch. The first pillar is convenience. We want to provide you convenience on any device. You have access to your identity on any device that is super important because without that, we cannot eliminate passwords. The reason why face ID today cannot tell you, Hey, use just face ID, eliminate password.

Eli: They can't do it. Why? Because they have to allow you access on other devices. What if you're not on your iPhone and you need to access your email? See, so this is part of the reasons why convenience is so important and getting access on any device. The second pillar is security. Like I said, we were building this for military use.

Eli: It incorporates a lot of security as a biometric system, and I can here give you a snippet, additional snippet, we are able actually to detect vitals. So we can also detect that this hand is a living organ. So this is also a strong security on top of other trade secrets that I cannot reveal [00:37:00] here. And the third pillar, which is also very important is privacy.

Eli: How important is a biometric that is private? Uh, people You know, growing number of individuals are concerned about facial recognition and that data they have to scan every time their faces. It's just too invasive. They don't feel comfortable doing it,

Mehmet: right? Um, you know, just as we are coming to the end of our time together.

Mehmet: I want to talk a little bit. I want you to talk a little bit about the startup part of it and, you know, being, being in startup. And I know like, uh, I think if I'm not mistaken, uh, you're, you're still, uh, you know, on the raising funds also as well. So, Tell me more about like this aspect of, of being a founder and, you know, the fundraising, how is it going?

Mehmet: Uh, and then we can, we can start like concluding for today.

Eli: Yeah, absolutely. [00:38:00] I mean, uh, we're very fortunate to have had investors believing in us, you know, backing us, uh, angel investors, particularly. We've also been fortunate to actually been accepted to, uh, uh, a recent fund in Silicon Valley. So we're going to start our program end of October.

Eli: Um, also, we were more than fortunate to work with the FDIC. We were participating in a text print about digital identity proofing for people who don't know who the FDIC is. It's a federal agency here in the United States that protects bank deposits. We also were, uh, very lucky to be chosen by Visa, uh, among the top five FinTech startups in the United States.

Eli: And so the vision for Visa, the credit card company is that our vision for them is that we want to eliminate plastic cards, like I was saying earlier, and you can make a payment with just scanning your hand on any device, [00:39:00] not just your device, any device. And so, yeah, all this market validation, um, pushed us to conduct more market research and more validation.

Eli: And so we recently also launched our crowdfunding campaign, which is a great vehicle for us to validate if consumers want to use Katch. And so we're now we're raising money as well there. Anyone can contribute. Anyone can own shares in our company and, you know, capitalize on the future growth that this business can create and the value it can provide for a lot of consumers and businesses.

Eli: And so we, I'm not sure if you see that QR code, but people can scan that QR code. It takes them to our website. They can learn more about the project, what we're building, and there's a button there invest. They can click on that button. Also it takes them to our landing page where they can also learn and anyone can [00:40:00] invest.

Eli: They can be living in any country. They can always invest no matter where they're living, no matter what their income is, they can invest and they can invest as little as a hundred dollars, which might not seem like a lot of money, but for us, it's a validation. It's a validation that people want to use this and people are voting.

Eli: By putting money and placing bets on cash and that's why we're we're doing this right now Um, and so our goal is to commercialize the product by next year.

Mehmet: Okay, great Uh, and you did something that saved a question for me. I'm, just joking I like to ask this question because usually the last thing I ask I guess where people can find you Or more about the company and you put the qr code, which is you know a brilliant idea I would say You So people, yeah, so if you, so if you, if you're watching and actually you can see, uh, like the website and we have wrote it next to his name again, it's going to be in the show notes just for you.

Mehmet: If you don't want to scan and you can see the QR [00:41:00] code also as well. Like really, I enjoyed the conversation. It was very educational. It was like really about not only, you know, pitching a product or a service. It's more about really letting us at the audience in general, you know, understand the real risks of this.

Mehmet: I would say epidemic. Let's call it this way. It's an epidemic off of, you know, people keep losing their data, getting stolen, you know, in data breaches used by bad actors and so on. So really, I appreciate all, uh, you know, the information that you gave us today. Plus, I appreciate, you know, I'm a little bit biased.

Mehmet: I come from a technical background, as I was telling you, and I'm biased for everyone who's trying to solve this problem. In any mean and anyhow, but what you're doing with the team is really, uh, really great. I would say you're doing a lot of researchers. I checked the website before we come to the recording today, and I wish you all the best and the luck in the, in this journey.

Mehmet: And this is how I [00:42:00] usually add my episodes. This is for the audience. If you just discovered this podcast by luck, thank you for passing by. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did so please give us a thumb up and subscribe. I'd share it with your friends and colleagues. And if you are one of the people who keeps coming again and again, thank you for supporting and giving me your feedback and suggestions.

Mehmet: Keep them coming. I read them all. Thank you very much for tuning in. And we'll meet again very soon. Thank you. Bye.

Bye.