Q&A with Ludwik Zon, CEO, Miri Systems
Charlotte, North Carolina-based Miri Systems is the developer and marketer of the MiriPay system. Its members include software developers and banking experts with decades of experience in custom software and credit card solutions as well as experts in quantitative analysis of complex systems and intellectual property development.
StartUp Beat: What is your primary value proposition for users?
Ludwik Zon: Security. Users of the Miri Card will have the ability to shop anywhere, anytime confident that their account number information is protected. Fear is the number one reason cited by U.S. consumers for not making purchases over the Internet or on their mobile phone. However, credit cards are the global currency and fraud is a global problem. A secure payment vehicle makes everyone a winner through increased commerce, reduced rates of identity theft and reduced values of the stolen information on the black market while improving customer loyalty. Clearly, the advantages of a Miri Card for the global economy in burgeoning e-commerce and m-commerce markets are enormous.
StartUp Beat: When was the company founded, and how did the idea come about?
Ludwik Zon: Miri Systems was founded in November 2007, but the idea for the solution began in 1999 when Paul Vasil, our CFO and also an accountant, along with Ron Sandstrom, a software architect and our CTO, conceived the idea of an “intelligent” payment card. They submitted a U.S. Patent application in 2000 for imbedding intelligent information into a payment number. The Patent was granted in September 2007. I joined the company that same year as CEO.
We know that the stakes are high for consumers, banks, card associations and merchants. In 2007, there was an estimated $3.2 billion USD in online credit card fraud. I frequently have credit cards that have to be cancelled as a result of fraud. Consumers are now asked to dig deeper into their pockets to purchase identity theft protection. Real protection is taking away the power of stolen information, and that’s what the Miri Card does.
StartUp Beat: Can you describe the underlying technology behind your product, and how it works for users?
Ludwik Zon: Miri Systems has designed a unique solution that allows users to make purchases via the Internet, mobile phone or in-store through virtual credit/debit card account numbers. We are the only company that provides a stand-alone application that can generate a dynamic account number for card purchases anyplace, anytime and does not require Internet access. This unique and patented solution, the Miri Card, uses an encoder to generate a virtual account number at the point of sale for each purchase. This encoder resides as an applet on a computer, mobile phone or smart card, and again it does not require Internet access—a key advantage. The payment card transaction is processed like any other transaction except the virtual account number can only be decoded by the host: the credit card association, the issuing bank or card processor. Since the actual card number is not used or stored at the point of sale, the customer’s original account information is never compromised, thereby providing a secure payment vehicle.
StartUp Beat: Who do you see as your competition?
Ludwik Zon: There are other companies that provide virtual account numbers. However, the Miri Card is the only solution that allows virtual account numbers to be created anytime and anywhere, does not require Internet access and does not pass original account details. It works with both credit and debit cards, supports card present transactions and provides useless account data if stolen. This is the uniqueness of our solution. Only the Miri Card provides a secure solution that adapts to evolving consumer purchasing behavior in growing access channels for commerce.
Miri Systems - www.mirisystems.com
