Much of what Jumio is building is still very unclear, but chances are this will become one of the hottest startups in 2011, and not just because they hire opera singers to tease their upcoming mobile payments product.
This morning, the company announced part of its advisory board, also revealing that its payment solution is now in the final stages of development.
The advisory board includes people like former Google exec Zain Khan, former Amazon exec Mark Britto and Maarten Linthorst, CEO of CSI Communication Systems.
Khan, now turned private investor, is credited with building Google’s infrastructure from scratch back in 1999. Britto is the founder of Accept.com (acquired by Amazon) and board member of Bill Me Later (which was acquired by eBay).
Arguably the most impressive resume of the bunch comes from Linthorst, though:
Working with NASA back in 1969, Maarten Linthorst paved the way for the Internet as we know it, interconnecting the first two servers to become the ARPANET. He also developed the X25 protocol, which is used for every credit card transaction worldwide.
Linthorst comments that Jumio will “revolutionize the way we think about online payment; both from a technological and a social point of view”.
Jumio was co-founded by Daniel Mattes, who sold his latest company, Jajah, to Telefonica for $207 million. Mattes is apparently called the “Bill Gates of the Alps” in some parts.
More praise from Bjorn Evers, a former CEO of one of the world’s largest online gambling groups:
“Jumio is a definite game changer and the answer to online payment fraud”.
Lots of hyperbole and big names involved – now let’s see what they have to show for it.