Mr. Ryo Ogawa, CEO of Qwi Inc.
Qwi has recorded 12,000 downloads in 18 months since the company’s start. In March 2022, the personal authentication app won first place in the category of new apps on Google Play Store. The app is gaining popularity among students because it allows them to decide selectively which of their information is given to third parties in order to proactively maintain a more deliberate online persona. We interviewed Mr. Ryo Ogawa, the CEO of Qwi Inc. about their popular app Qwi.
―Qwi is being hailed as a revolutionary app that handles personal authentication smartly, securely, and reliably. Could you tell us what inspired you to develop the app?
At one point in my digital life, I realized that we were unconsciously providing a huge amount of information at places like a movie theater, during travel, and at online and real-life stores. We set up our accounts in various places and provide our personal information. Each organization encourages us to agree with its handling of our personal information using a long and complicated essay, but, honestly, we don’t always read it in full before agreeing to it.
―There’s definitely a lot of truth to that.
We unconsciously end up exposing our personal information in many parts of our lives. I thought there was a need for an app that could allow users to hold and disclose a lot of digital data on their own terms and to preserve their digital identity by selectively providing personal information on their digital devices to third parties.
―I see. You started Qwi right after graduating from college, right?
Yes, that’s right. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I spent my college years in the United States, and while temporarily returning to Japan, I started my own business based on an anti-viral coating. I worked with 800 student volunteers to run a project to prevent indoor COVID clusters at children’s facilities for free. After that, I produced and commercialized an anti-viral coating kit for home care, but after graduating from college and with the pandemic calming down, I founded Qwi Inc. with the aim of realizing the future created by crypto/DID１.
―I heard you majored in bio and chemistry at a U.S. university. Your major doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the app’s theme of digital identity, so what led you to become involved in IT?
To be honest, there’s no connection between them (laughs). Like you said, it’s certainly not IT. It’s associated with the medical field, and I was more like a researcher. If I may say so, I think the COVID-19 pandemic was the trigger. In the U.S., where I was studying, I spent a long time not seeing anyone, so I had time to reflect on my aptitudes. While developing my business in Japan, I realized that I might be rather suited to an IT-related business. I was able to see multiple problems I could solve, so it was natural for me to get involved in IT.
―And so you created the popular app Qwi.
That’s right. Qwi allows users to store information in their phone’s local storage without leaving anything on the service’s server. Users can keep a variety of information under their direct personal control. Using Verifiable Credentials, a next-generation verification technology, the app enables users to organize their hobbies and preferences into something like a set of badges that state, for example, “I like sweets” and “I like watching sports” and to decide whether or not to disclose those facts.
―That means users can keep their personal information secure for free and still receive services that best fit their interests, right?
We can deliver the most relevant information based on the information disclosed by the user. Users can use this app for free and use it for smooth personal authentication. For companies, the app significantly reduces the worries about damaging data breaches while allowing them to safely obtain information necessary for personalized marketing tailored to the needs of each customer through things like tracking.
―The app is free, but is it available to everyone?
Currently, it’s available only to students ranging from those in junior high school to those in graduate school (born in 1990 and later). They are so-called digital natives, who have been exposed to digital technology from birth and have the power to spread trends. We decided to target young people to first understand their values because they have a lot of influence while their attributes are easy to narrow down.
―So you’re targeting young people, mainly Generation Z. How do they register?
After filling out the necessary information in the app, they send copies of the front and back of their student ID cards together with pictures of their face taken in front of a white background. After sending those, they can use the app as soon as the screening is completed. The screening takes only about 1 minute.
―The procedure is very easy, then. I heard that your app is very popular among students and that there’s been a remarkable surge in its popularity.
Fortunately, 12,000 people have already downloaded it, and 97% of the downloads are organic. I think the incredible spread through word-of-mouth is the truly remarkable part of Qwi.
The first instance of word-of-mouth spreading occurred with tweets from the Twitter account I had just created. Of course, it started with no followers, but my follower count grew to 200 in a single day. My tweets received tens of thousands of impressions. Next, we advanced to TikTok, where 3000 copies of our app were downloaded on the day an influencer showcased the app. I was honestly surprised because the influence was far greater than we had expected.
―So the concept of Qwi resonated with its target audience.
It tapped their latent need for something like our app. We were really fortunate. We were able to demonstrate that an app can be popular to this extent if people are interested, even on a word-of-mouth basis.
―The students who use the app, the companies and organizations that authenticate identities, and the shops and facilities that use the service have all benefitted greatly.
The identity authentication foundation that Qwi achieves is built on the following four pillars:
- Connecting software to make identity authentication easier→Providing authentication API
- Verifying users’ identities using a proprietary authentication method→Student ID cards made into an app
- Searching for deals and popular spots→Distributing discount coupons
- Collaborating with educational institutions and railway companies as infrastructure to connect businesses and consumers
This app enables marketing tailored to the needs of each customer so that user companies can have customers who will engage with their product their entire lives.
―I heard that several specific collaborations have already started.
Well, for example, with USEN NETWORKS Co., Ltd., we are proposing student discount rates for high-speed Internet for students who are starting a new life this spring or who are looking for high-speed lines for online classes. Utilizing our strengths in student-targeted identity marketing, we have established this collaboration with the desire to deliver USEN NETWORKS’ high-speed Internet lines broadly to students in their new lives.
―Online classes have become popular due to the pandemic, and your collaboration reflects this social situation. A lot of them will probably be interested in the great deal you’re offering as a result.
We have another collaboration with JR East Start Up Co., Ltd., which also started in 2023. We began disseminating information using our student authentication technology at Perie Chiba, the station building that is celebrating its 60th anniversary. A lot of people have expressed their appreciation, saying that understanding and connecting with the values of Generation Z are an important theme in the revitalization of the local community around the station.
―I see. It’s only been 18 months since you started your business in December 2021. You’ve shown an eye-opening level of development. Depending on your ideas, both the app itself and the business could expand significantly. To close, could you tell us about your future aspirations and any messages you’d like to express?
Currently, we are only targeting young people, but we’d like to expand our system to other various age groups in the future and, to that end, like to simplify the authentication process even more. We have many future ideas such as authentication for recruiting sites and spreading to school trip students in cooperation with tourism associations. We’d love to hear from you, readers, about your thoughts and ideas from the field. We’d really appreciate your help.
※1 Decentralized Identity
| Company name：Qwi Inc. |
| Founded：December 2021 |
| Number of employees: 3 |
| Main business：Developing and operating the digital personal authentication system Qwi URL：https://qwi-did.io |
This article is part of a series of articles introducing venture companies working together as ICF members to resolve societal issues.