While the technical study was executed on plan and delivered the expected outcomes, the business study revealed a critical issue in terms of commercial viability and business model validation.
Even though there is a great interest of the banks for the Skeyecode solution (two customised prototypes were built and demonstrated to two major banks), the buying cycle they announced, is incompatible with the lifecycle of a startup.
The Skeyecode team decided to refocus on a new initial market with smaller, faster and more technology savvy players, while building on the 2FA existing solution.
Because of the rising traction in terms of investment and number of patents filed, created by the blockchain distributed ledger technology, and the critical need for secure storage of the keys as well as authentication and signature of the transactions, this market looked like the perfect opportunity. Skeyecode was able to sign a partnership with Gemalto to design a new smartcard which provides the features of a cold wallet, when combined with the existing smartphone 2FA solution. Several months later a prototype was ready for demonstration and new patents were filed. Skeyecode approached several players (exchanges, fintechs emitting tokens, but also luxury brands) and could validate the market opportunity. Today a few contracts in the sales pipeline are nearing the closure state