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On one of his visits to Chile, Joaquin was invited to speak with Oh My Geek!  (Channel 13) about his new project, Kuapay, a mobile payment system using smartphones. The video is in Spanish, but we’ve translated some of the conversation. You can watch the full video here.

Joaquín Ayuso de Paul Introduction

OMG! – Joaquín Ayuso is the co-founder of Tuenti, social network called the Spanish Facebook. Created for a specific audience such as the Spanish, can you tell us about your experience?

Joaquín – When we first started with the idea, we never thought that it would have the acceptance that it had. It was founded in April 2006. We built a prototype to determine the level of acceptance we would have in Spain. Then we saw that we were registering  thousands of people in our university and decided that the registration would be by invitation only. Then we raised the capital and assembled the company.

OMG! – In fact, even today it works by invitation.

Joaquín – Correct.

OMG! – And still has more than 10 million users.

Joaquín – Right, it has 11 million users.

OMG! – But only in Spain. What if someone from Chile wanted to join?

Joaquín – Right now they wouldn’t be able to, but Tuenti is considering entering Chile and South America soon.

Kuapay

OMG! – Now his main project is called Kuapay, transforming your cell phone into a wallet. Is it just for the iPhone?

Joaquín – Not just for the iPhone, but Blackberry and Android as well.

OMG! – So how does it work?

Joaquín – The steps are very simple. You create an account at ‘kuapay.com’, which is where you input all your cards (and in the case of Chile at ‘chile.kuapay.com’). We’ve added an extra level of security, forcing your browser to encrypt this information before you send it to us (kuapay), so that we never have information about your credit cards or your finances. Information is completely secure and only accessible by you.

The second step is to download the application. Once you enter your account details, your wallet is in your phone, and you can go to any store that has enabled Kuapay and pay with your credit cards through your mobile phone. You no longer have to carry cards in your wallet.

OMG! – Why is the Chilean market so simple? (Referring to the interview on CNN Chile)

Joaquín – In Chile there is a single acquirer, Transbank, and we will be working with them if we want to be in Chile. The role of Transbank will be more as a partner than a competitor. In that sense it is easier to work with a single partner than the 16 companies that perform the same function in the USA market.

OMG! – What differences do your platform offer over other competitors?

Joaquín – Total flexibility: if you make a purchase at a supermarket, you identify yourself and let the point of sale send the bill to your mobile phone. At that time you choose the card you want to pay and payment is made.

But the three main advantages are:

1. Safety first. If you lose your mobile phone and with that, your Kuapay wallet, you do not have to cancel your credit cards and debit cards, as is the case with other competitors.

2. Ease of use. If you pay with FastPay, which is the fastest way to pay with Kuapay, it takes 6 seconds instead of the 17 it takes to pay with a card in the conventional manner: PINpass or signature.

3. Convenience. You are able to centralize all your expenses and all transactions in one place. When you access your account in Kuapay, you can see everything you’ve spent during the month with all your cards, all the points you have accumulated on all the offers you’ve signed up for, and so on. All in one place, completely private. You encrypt your own data, send it to us, and then we give it back to you when needed to decrypt on your smartphone. All very simple.

OMG! – Very innovative and very useful, getting rid of the credit cards in the wallet and preventing theft at the same time. It’s a win-win situation to have a thing like this. Hopefully people will be open to adopt it.