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I think Thawte was a much more ambitious startup to come out of South Africa. Thawte was founded in 1995 by Mark Shuttleworth in South Africa and was originall

• 18pfsmt 15y ago
  I disagree, and you will notice lots of skepticism in the comments on the this thread about the idea itself. The reason the idea is more ambitious is because it requires a change in thinking and behavior on the part of the consumer. I was part of a company trying to start a VRM company 3 years ago and it was very difficult to get the idea across to possible investors. The reason it was so difficult to explain was because the starting premise centered around technology that still isn't in the market: Near Field Communication (NFC). As NFC becomes a physicalID<--->digitalID, and serves as a basis for payment, the companies involved in payment processing, the banks, and the merchants one patronizes become quite capable of compiling vast amounts of data that could be seen as quite personal. However, because the concept seems very convenient in many ways, those that are uncomfortable with the potential data mining will still be using cash. So, the idea was to put a buffer between the people and the businesses that had yet to earn one's trust.