Panel SA: Brazilian startup arrives in the country and converts personal data into cash

by

Brazilian entrepreneur André Vellozo, 53, lives in Silicon Valley, USA, where he founded DrumWave, a technology company that developed a platform that promises to turn anyone’s personal data into money. That’s right.

For him, today, the massive use of social networks, applications and payment systems creates a gigantic information base about the behavior and profiles of each citizen. And that’s gold.

The problem is that only giants like Google and Facebook, among others, generate money with these records, either by doing analysis to boost clicks and revenue, or by selling this digital collection.

Vellozo created a system that monetizes this data and transfers it to a digital wallet, named Dwallet, which can be used for financial transactions, such as paying bills, transfers and even financial applications.

For this, he has already signed partnerships with Serpro in Brazil [Serviço Federal de Processamento de Dados]the largest data server in the country, and with at least three large networks that will serve as a starting point for the “data portfolio” to be massified in the country.

This week, he arrives in Brazil to present his business model to the elected government team. He argues that the solution has the potential to reduce poverty in the country.

Is monetizing the same thing as buying and selling data?Not. Data has value. Today any relationship of ours, whether social or financial, generates a record, produces data, and it shows a little of who we are, our habits, preferences. LGPD, the data protection law, obliges companies to archive and protect our data. The new legislation also obliges them to be delivered when requested by the holder, you. This means that companies are already prepared to handle this data, which is part of my business.

Today, companies buy and sell this data from each other and earn from this operation. Build commercial strategies. The owner of this data, you, receive what for it? Zero. In the US, companies that violated data protection rules were fined billions and billions of dollars. Who received this compensation? The government. That’s what I propose to change.

How to earn with personal data?DrumWave’s solution can be compared to the Brazilian Payment System in which the currency is your data. It works as if we were Visa or Mastercard. We accredit agents throughout the country, who are responsible for the custody of the data. These agents close partnership contracts (adhesion) with companies interested in being part of this chain, which start to accept DrumWave —or Dwallet whose data is converted into money— as a payment currency.

An example: imagine that you, hypothetically, go to an accredited coffee shop. There, you, who are a regular customer, always drink your coffee and that order is recorded, with details — with foam, without caffeine. You pay and the cashier asks if you authorize sharing the data with third parties. The decision to accept or not is, of course, yours. If you authorize, you can keep 20% of the trading value of your data, and the coffee shop, 80%. Today she has 100%. Eventually, she could offer you the free coffee at that time as payment. There are many possibilities.

These commercial relationships, in this case, generate a credit that goes to your wallet, your data savings, which can be used in the accredited network.

How many companies in Brazil are already accredited?We signed a contract with Serpro, the largest public technology company in the world. We also closed with a large retailer, one of the largest banks, a large food company.

Can you say how these partnerships will be converted into benefits for Brazilians?I can’t reveal yet. These partnerships will be announced soon by the president of DrumWave in Brazil.

Does this platform tend to merge with the Brazilian Payment System?What we are witnessing today is the collision between two galaxies: the infrastructure built by big techs, such as Google and Facebook, and that of big finance, the banks. Central banks are becoming bigtechs. Brazil launched Pix, the Brazilian Payment System itself, open banking, these are innovations that serve as a reference for the world.

The Brazilian Central Bank is very attentive to the economy of data. The president, Roberto Campos Netto, has already stated that the trend is this data monetization. At the other end, banks are becoming marketplaces and marketplaces, banks. DrumWave is a startup resulting from the fusion of these two worlds. And that only happens because the data has value.

After all, what will be DrumWave’s source of income?The operations. We charge a fee from acquirers and a fee [tarifa] per transaction.

How can your idea help reduce poverty?I think it’s possible to create a minimum income social program with data. Greater articulation between public and private entities would be needed. When you put the dice in the hand of the citizen —no matter the social class—it generates value, it creates income.


X-ray

André Vellozo

Age: 53

Education: self-taught in cybernetics

Career: Entrepreneur, inventor and investor based in the USA for 12 years, where he founded DrumWave. He has several patents with the USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office) and has received several awards.

You May Also Like

Recommended for you