Safety came up tops again when Keezel received the most votes from travel buyers and suppliers after a pitch-off at Business Travel Summit Amsterdam. We caught up with Friso Schmid, the founder of the Dutch firm afterwards for our start-up series.
When were you launched?
Early 2015.
How many people are working for the company?
There is five of us.
Sum up what your company/product does in one sentence
Keezel is a portable device that allows you to use any Wi-Fi secure and private with your phone, laptop and tablet.
Why is it unique?
People mostly use Wi-Fi unprotected, or if they do they use VPN or anti-virus/malware software. Both of these have serious shortcomings in terms of security. Keezel acts as a physical firewall and is inherently more secure and versatile than a software application on your phone or laptop. Keezel can protect any device that has WiFi, even Apple TV, Sonos, Roku, XBOX and Chromecast.
What problem does it solve?
The risk of your personal information and accounts getting hacked by criminals, governments or other entities.
What markets is it available in?
We are currently shipping to customers in 100 countries with a primary focus on North America and Europe.
Which companies are using it already?
The device started as a consumer product but during our crowdfunding campaign we got a lot of request of small and larger companies who wanted to use it for remote working employees.
We are now developing our Keezel for Business product which will allow integration with corporate infrastructure; this means after setup you can access your corporate drive/intranet/CRM. Your IT department can revoke access or change access rights if necessary.
What do travel managers/HR professionals like about it?
It allows larger corporates to comply with the data security policies and lowers the risk of hacks and data theft.
Why do travellers like it?
It protects you on any network, allows you to access content that's not available in your region (by using its VPN server locations around the world) and it works as a power bank.
What are your growth plans?
In 2018 we want to get into retail and etail in Europe and the US, while also launching Keezel through third parties in the travel and cybersecurity industry.