Swapnil Kale, United Linkers, Biometric Security for Automobiles & Biometric E-commerce Transactions

Worried about your car being stolen? Do you forget your car keys usually? Well you don't need to worry anymore. United Linkers has a car security solution using biometrics. United Linkers is a Computer Security Company offering security solutions using Biometrics.

Swapnil Kale, Founder of United Linkers, in conversation with YourStory.in, shares his exciting story with us. Below are the edited excerpts from the interview:

Swapnil, tell us about United Linkers.

United Linkers is a biometric company founded in India and matured to Silicon valley, California. Our office is located at www.plugandplaytechcenter.com by reference of Saeed Amidi early stage investor and realtor for Google and Paypal. We provide two solutions, Biometric security for automobiles and Biometric E-commerce transactions online. We offer “Identisafe”, fingerprint car security system, we are currently in negotiations with Ferrari, Italy. We are working on Biometric E-commerce platform to reduce online fraud, similar to Paypal and Google checkout.

How did the idea for United Linkers come about? How much capital was required to implement the idea?

We were driving a car with a TV on the dashboard. However, every time we hit a pothole, the LCD screen would stop working. We had to use our finger to touch the LCD screen so that we could enjoy TV while driving. That’s when we thought why not start the car with the fingerprint. The rest followed. “United Linkers” was the name of the social networking site we were working on. However we did not want to waste time in paper work for a new company formation so we did not change the name. We invested Rs 30,000 to begin with. We burnt the starter motor of my new Ford car 3 times during Research and Development but claimed it in warranty. So, we saved a lot on the invention part of it. The ford dealer to this day does not know how we managed to burn the starter motor of the new ford car thrice in a years time.

Tell us about your background.

I am a software engineer with networking and hardware experience. I was always interested in innovation. My latest invention is Solar powered Air conditioner. I bought a new Panasonic AC and modified it.Let us know about the tie-ups that you have.

We do work closely with ARAI(Automotive Research Association of India). And, US Department of Transportation, purchased our “Identisafe” prototype.

Where do you see United Linkers five years from now?

We have finished a new product which will enable biometric E-commerce transactions online. We plan to go public in 5 years.

Have you been funded?

In spite of being in Silicon Valley ,California we made a mistake of not seeking Venture Capital. Well, we now would like to get funded so that we can expand, the biometric market in India is emerging. So we look forward to meeting Venture Capital firms.

What are the challenges that you faced while developing your products? How did you overcome these challenges?

The biggest challenge was implementation of the idea into a practical technology product. Persistence and “Never say die attitude” helped us get over all technological and other challenges.

How big is the team behind United Linkers? Are you looking at hiring?

We have a technology team in Germany. Software and algorithms are written by team in India. Sales are taken care by a small team in USA. Totally we are 10 people. We are looking forward to hire sales people in India since we feel the potential here is great. We are also looking for PhD candidates in Biometrics and Nanotechnology.

Let us know about your expansion plans.

We have inquiries from car companies to embed the product Identisafe-09 at manufacturing stage. We also have a lot of franchise inquiries from USA ,United Kingdom, Germany, Turkey. We are looking at independent dealer network for our fingerprint car security product. We will take a decision on this soon. Currently, we are focussed on Biometric E-commerce payment gateway because the product is ready and we want to launch it. We are looking forward to Venture capitalist to guide us further on this. We plan to mature into a biometric payment gateway company on footsteps of Paypal and Google checkout.

Anything else you want to share with us?

Identisafe-09 fingerprint car security system gets maximum sales from USA followed by UK, Germany, UAE and Saudi Arabia. We are yet to introduce Identisafe-09 in the Indian market.Will launch soon. Most of our users our young. We would like all major luxury car brands to embed our product. We will be opening an office in Germany next month. Biometric Ecommerce payment system may open many new doors for revenue generation for our company.

Do check out http://www.automobile-security.com/ for more details.