Tykn Identity using Feature Phones

Tykn is an award-winning startup developing digital identity tools for impact. Our innovative technology allows organisations to issue cryptographically tamper-proof credentials which are verifiable anywhere, at any time. Identity owners can prove their ID to access services while remaining in full control of what personal data is viewed, shared & stored. For a while this was only possible on Smart Phones. Since we are committed to not leaving anyone behind, we are working on the technology to make this possible on Feature Phones. We envision a world where identities are portable, private and secure, so that no one has to lose access to their identity ever again.

• While across Africa internet penetration is only 18%, mobile phone penetration is at 80% due to the high degree of feature phone usage.
• Until private & secure identity management through feature phones is possible, a large share of the bottom of the pyramid will be excluded.
• Our Self-Sovereign Identity-based approach would allow anyone with a feature phone to remotely identify themselves, whilst maintaining control over their data.
• No more exclusion, no more invisible people, easy access to services.

Over 1 billion people around the globe do not have an identifying document. 237 million of those are children. Because of that, they are unable to access services such as healthcare or education, forcing them to live on the fringes of society, at risk of exploitation and trafficking. The underlying causes are:

• Inefficient identity issuance and verification processes due to siloed, inefficient and often still paper-based identity systems.
• Weak, insecure & costly data management with centralised storages under constant risk of breaches.
• Physical IDs that are easily lost and defrauded. Our technology allows for a world where identities are portable, private and secure, so that no one has to lose access to their identity ever again.

Tykn has developed a platform called Ana. This will enable organisations to easily issue and verify digital credentials. Privately and securely. This product is currently being piloted in different areas, one of them being for refugees in Turkey with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and UNDP. Ana, our lightweight iOS & Android wallet app, will help employers in Turkey obtain work permits for Syrian Refugees. Improving livelihood opportunities and creating a future of opportunity through digital identity. 1.2 billion people around the world do not have an identifying document. Because of that they are unable to access services such as healthcare, education or find a job. They are forced to live on the fringes of society, at risk of exploitation and trafficking.

As Founding Steward of Sovrin Tykn has also lead the development of the digital identity backend of the 121 consortium, an initiative of the NLRC for Cash Based Aid.

We impact the lives of people positively by helping those organisations that serve them and give them access to services and basic human rights.

• NGOs
• Governments
• Employers / job market
• MedTech
• FinTech

The identity problem concerns over 13% of the world population, where the second order effect of absolving this problem spans across many SDGs. With a higher degree of socio-economic inclusion comes a higher degree of opportunity, safety, economic growth, equality and more. The technology is here. We just need scale. 

As an impact-first tech company, our business-model thus far has been based on delivering professional services to governments and NGOs per-project basis. This has allowed us to build our technical infrastructure while making impact and covering some of the costs of development. While a sound strategy for the early stages, our vision is to create a scalable SaaS business with predictable revenue. We want to scale up now with our Feature phone capabilities. 

Self Sovereign Identity is an innovative technology that allows organisations to issue cryptographically tamper-proof credentials which are verifiable anywhere, at any time. We make it impossible now possible to also manage your ID through feature phones in areas where smart phone adoption is still marginal.

The solution has currently served hundreds of families in Ukraine, Turkey and sub-Saharan Africa. Our goal is to scale this up to hundreds of thousands in the next two years (in part thanks to our work with the UNDP, Red Cross & Turkish government) and millions in five years as the core ecosystems have reached critical mass, allowing for meaningful on-boarding of people to existing services from which they are currently entirely excluded.

Measuring impact is made possible through our web-based wallet by collecting metadata on how many people actually did access to services, such as education, health and banking. So as an example: for NGOs in the education sector it is not about how many certificates we digitally issued or how many active wallets are live, but of those graduates how many did really get hired. This is made possible by using their digital identity to get verified by those who are recruiting them. That's a very powerful proposition and at the same time it's done in a privacy conserving way.

6 full-timers of Absolute Magic Makers

Our team is composed of subject-matter experts formerly holding positions at Thomson Reuters, the Dutch Ministry of Interior, Telefonica and many more, all driven by tech innovation for good. The efforts of this team have lead Tykn to being published in The Guardian, NOS, NRC, Thomson Reuters, EU-Startups and several other international publication, as well as winning multiple prizes and awards, including “The Netherlands Chivas Venture Award 2019” (Best Dutch Social Enterprise), whereafter Tykn placed Top 5 in the global competition among a 1000 startups; The Spindle Innovation Awards (powered by Partos and Accenture) and the MENAFIF Innovation Prize from the Asia Financial Institutions Forum.

Initially co-founded by a Syrian refugee, the team has been working together for multiple years on making the humanitarian sector more private & secure, whilst helping the people who need it the most.

As per the World Bank's ID4D Global Dataset, 1 in 2 women in low-income countries does not have an ID. This does not only limit their access to critical services and participation in political and economic life, but it also puts them at direct risk of trafficking and sexual exploitation. Tykn is aiming to change this.

After spending over 3 years developing solutions for social good, we have seen that a large part of making impact in the humanitarian space starts with sitting at the table with the decision makers. While the funding would allow us to develop the solution within a shorter timeframe, the real value from the SOLVE Global Challenge to us would be getting the opportunity to show the magic and potential impact of the solution to those who could get actually get us to implementation in the areas it counts the most.

Getting a higher exposure to investors is always welcome, as is help with PR. On the product/service distribution side, we are looking at ways to increase sales, especially outside of Europe and the US, a partner here would be incredibly helpful.

Tykn has spent 3 years building out infrastructural tech to better the lives of refugees and underserved communities. One such project was our work with UNDP and the Turkish government: https://tykn.tech/turkey/

We would use the prize to expand this project and increase refugee employability in Turkey.

Tykn's infrastructural technology is entirely blockchain-based. As mentioned previously, this tech we have built out primarily to benefit underserved communities & refugees for higher degrees of socio-economic inclusion and employment.