Movers & Shakers Interview with Lorenzo Frollini, Founder, CEO and CTO - Flywallet

Published Date: 1/15/2021

 

 

 

Lorenzo Frollini, is the founder, CEO and CTO of Flywallet. His background studies is in aerospace engineering at La Sapienza University of Rome. After a trip to London in 2016 where he discovered the potential of Contactless payments, he invented an innovative system for electronic payments and digital identity, and then founded Flywallet. He has experience with fintech, especially with electronic payments and EU directive PSD2, business development, marketing, electronics, 3D printing and fast prototyping.  

 

Vishal Sapru (VS), Co-Founder, Cognitio Research Inc. had an opportunity to conduct a Movers & Shakers interview with Lorenzo Frollini (LF), Founder, CEO & CTO Flywallet.

 

 

VS: Can you provide our readers a brief overview of Flywallet including the vision behind its formation and its current role in the market?

 

FL: Flywallet is an innovative startup that connects payment, mobility and health services by enclosing them in a single ecosystem and putting safety first, thanks to biometrics and proprietary wearable and IoT technologies. We created Keyble as a new type of wearable that adapts to the user's lifestyle. Our vision is to make people's life more simple and secure, thanks to biometric authentication on wearables, and become the standard solution for everyday life services authentication.

 

VS: Please, describe Flywallet for our readers? How does it work and are there any similar products available in the market?

 

FL: Our product Keyble is a smart module you can wear as a smart band or as clip for the watch strap on a traditional watch, but it can also be inserted in other accessories. Keyble is equipped with various biometric sensors and can be used in many ways. For example, through fingerprint authentication, the user can use the device to enable payments in stores, passwordless login to online services, ticketing for public transport, loyalty cards, access to gyms, offices and home, opening cars and digital identity (eID) support. With the companion app you can manage all the services associated to the device and tokenize your payment cards. At present, most wearable devices on the market are not capable of making payments, especially the most affordable ones, and Keyble is the only one able to make them in a simple and secure way.

 

 

VS: What are some of the likely challenges Flywallet is expecting to face in the market and what strategy do you have in place to overcome it?

 

FL: Certainly, as with any start-up that is entering the market, one of our main challenges is to be able to raise awareness on our new brand and distribute our devices to end customers in an effective way. That's why we decided to approach the B2B market first and sell Keyble in partnership with banks, issuers, insurance companies and other partners.

 

 

VS: What is the unique value proposition of your product and its key competitive differentiators?

 

FL: Our strengths are both Keyble and the platform. Thanks to them we can ensure that only the real owner can use the device, because Keyble is enabled only by biometric authentication and the enrollment process is made in a secure environment through the companion app at the time of user registration.

When you want to enable a contactless payment or a digital service you only need to use your fingerprint, without having to remember PINs or passwords.

 

 

VS: What is your strategy in regards to offering best value to customers for the price, compared to similar offerings from competitors? if any?

 

FL: Thanks to partnerships we will provide competitive pricing based on an annual subscription to partners, then they can decide whether to offer the device included in their service or charge it separately. The basic plan will include common features used in everyday life. A health plan specific for medical purpose and an advanced plan for companies with more feature like access control and passwordless login for their IT systems will also be available. Our platform is capable of adapting to the needs of our partners and accessible via APIs in order to build services on top of our own.

 

 

VS: What do you want the company to accomplish in next 5 years and how will you define success for Flywallet?

 

FL: The goal of Flywallet is to become the leading solution in enabling digital services through a platform that brings together all the aspects of the daily life of a person, thanks to the possibilities of a new kind of wearables that are more and more integrable in fashion accessories and secured by multi-modal biometrics.

 

 

VS: How will you manage information security for your device? Where will all the information reside and who all will have access to the information/data that will continue to grow?  Also, do you foresee the acceptance of your product to have influence (trend setter) on the overall direction of the market?

 

FL: All sensitive data are stored in a secure element that makes inaccessible to anyone and the device can be enabled only by fingerprint. Fitness and health data are stored in our cloud platform with the best security techniques, in compliance with current privacy laws. Users can decide whether to share this data with their physicians or insurance company. According to me the acceptance of our product could lead to both users and companies being more aware of the importance of security.

 

 

VS: Are there any unique features of your product that address unmet customer needs and competitors are unable to replicate and replace?

 

FL: Our technology and system are on patent pending. I believe that, thanks also to partnerships, we will be able to offer services tailored to the needs of users, managing to satisfy them in a better way than other companies.

 

 

VS: Are there any vendors in the market with complementing or similar products. How do you compare yourself with such competitors in regards to offering Best-in-Class solution?

 

FL: Yes, there are various wearable makers, but we set up as a platform and not as wearable manufacturer, this is what differentiate us in the ability to offer more personalized services with the best available technology at a competitive price.

 

 

VS: Do you plan to form any strategic alliances and/or partnerships? How do you plan to build and strengthen the brand?

 

FL: Yes, as I said before, our platform is built for making partnerships and develop digital services on our devices based on secure authentication of the users for simplifying their everyday life.

 

 

VS: As a general conclusion, what do you think the future holds for your product?

 

FL: During this year we will launch our product on the market first in Europe and then we plan to expand into the US market, hoping to close some deals that will make it easier to achieve this goal.

 

 

VS: Any other information you may want to share with our readers that may be important and we missed asking?

 

FL: I don't think I have anything else to say. I just want to thank you for the interview and I hope to have the opportunity to write in these pages again in the future.