Special Feature: Jeff Martinez of Oxford BioChronometrics
We have something a little different for you again today. Jeff Martinez from Oxford BioChronometrics tells us about their BioChronometric user authentication technology and it’s use in fintech.
Our questions are in bold.
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Who are you and what’s your background?
Jeff’s background in high tech finance started at the Pacific Stock Exchange in Los Angeles doing executions for high frequency traders (HFT) – before HFT had a name. His startup background was from growing a small specialized execution broker dealer (BD) to several BD buyouts and then to its acquisition by Merrill Lynch. Having a passion for startups and high tech finance, he started LA Fintech for others to get involved and create a community, with all the financial talent in the LA area. He is currently scaling a cyber security company called Oxford BioChronometrics (Oxford-Biochron.com) which is a new type of user authentication.
What is your job title and what are your general responsibilities?
Chief Revenue Officer. I’m responsible for business development and sales. I primarily deal with new clients and solving their bot or fraud problems with our BioChronometric technology.
Can you give us an overview of your business?
Oxford BioChronometrics specializes in user authentication based on BioChronometrics. BioChronometrics is user authentication based on behavior such as a users type, text, click, or swipe on any device. We use about 500 various data variables to derive an electronic signature we call eDNA (electronically Defined Natural Attributes). The signature also changes as we as humans change with time thereby the term “Chron” in BioChronometrics. eDNA is unhackable, unspoofable, and is a 16M character password that’s non-deterministic. BioChronometris can be used anywhere a user needs to be authenticated. The industries are endless. Some call it the “Ultimate Password”.
Tell us how you are funded.
500K convertible note.
Why did you start the company? To solve what problems?
The company originally was started by Adrian Neal while he was working on his masters degree at Oxford University. Because of his cryptography and banking background, the company started originally to authenticate a user and minimize fraud for the banking sector. After our proof of concept of NoMoreCaptchas.com we discovered it can be used in other industries such as ad tech which has about $10-20B of yearly fraud.
Who are your target customers? What’s your revenue model?
Since a user name and password is used on almost any secure web device, the technology can be used in all industries from fintech, ecommerce, adtech, governments, health, small business, web developers, and large corporations. The revenue model is based on verifications. Depending on the market depends on the billing structure. Each market has a preference on how they want to be billed so we tailor according to their needs.
If you had a magic wand, what one thing would you change in the banking and/or FinTech sector?
Regulation. The financial space is changing so fast that regulators need newer methods of regulation. Some industries such as Insurance are still using paper, fax machines, and mail. Really???
What is your message for the larger players in the Finance industry?
Come try out our eDNA and have your clients experience a non-intrusive authentication process.
What phone are you carrying and why?
Android. The apps come out faster than iPhone.
Where do you get your industry news from?
Various RSS feeds and Google News alerts. I also organize LA Fintech (LAFintech.com) and Chicago Fintech (CHXFintech.com) Meetups which helps me get a ground floor look at what’s going on in the fintech ecosystem. My background was originally security/capital markets with a specialization in micro market structure. The fintech groups really helps my knowledge with insight into the other 3 fintech markets (banking, currency, and real estate). I’ve also met some really cool people from the Meetup groups that have become friends and we talk shop often…
Can you list 3 people you rate from the FinTech sector that we should be following on Twitter?
@CHXFintech, @LAFintech, and @OxfordBiochron
Can you suggest the name of an Angel Investor or VC that might be interested in being profiled?
Core Innovation Capital, Pasadena Angels, Venture51, and Wedbush.
What’s the best FinTech product or service you’ve seen recently?
1FX, Acorns, Boomerang, Captitec, Codius, Ditto, Ernest, Ethereum, FastPay, InvestCloud, Ladder, MX, Nasdaq Private Market, Plaid, Realty Mogul, RobinHood, t0, ThingsforWork, Transferwise , TreveriCapital, Ripple, WireCash, and Yodlee.
Finally, let’s talk predictions. What trends do you think are going to define the next few years in the FinTech sector?
Security on all levels such as what we are doing at Oxford BioChronometrics will be the future. Currently the fintech industry is using outdated and intrusive methods of authenticating a user. Various types of multifactor authentication such as tokens, dongle, or text messages will be a thing of the past. I really hate using a dongle card to sign into a brokerage account. It literally takes a minute or 2 just to login. Then it times out and you have to relog in. Such a waste of time. Recently this particular BD came out with a electronic version of the dongle card for your phone and it works half the time. LOL. Sometime the text message arrives and other times its lost in cyber space.
Another area that will be change is the use of crypto ledgers. I think it will develop much further in the next few years and be used by very progressive banks and stock exchanges for clearing.
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Thanks to Jeff for his answers today. You can find out more about Oxford BioChronometrics on their website and on twitter.
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