Duke Master of Engineering in FinTech Students Receive Venture Capital Investment

Duke Master of Engineering in FinTech Students Receive Venture Capital Investment

 Mike Cutro and Mike Liu, two students from the Duke Master of Engineering in FinTech, have successfully secured a seed investment from Maven Ventures for their company, Validity.id. The platform is designed to provide organizations with an all-in-one solution to create a portable and provable digital identity for their members. 

 The idea behind Validity.id is to eliminate the need for intermediaries to store and verify data, and to create a decentralized medium where organizations can issue secure and verifiable digital credentials that anyone can trust. This is particularly relevant in an era where it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between human and artificial intelligence on the internet.  This thought is echoed by Robert Ravanshenas, Investment Partner at Maven Ventures and a Validity investor "We're proud back this team of technical Duke founders to solve one of our society's most pressing current problems — building trust in a world of dwindling trust on the internet.”

 Mike Liu, the co-founder of Validity.id, believes that their platform will help organizations to achieve digitalization without having to rely on third-party intermediaries. He stated, "I believe surveillance capitalism isn't our future. Validity will empower institutions to get digitalization without going through a third party - which is key. It's about disintermediation and being more efficient".

 Dr. Jimmie Lenz, director of the FinTech graduate program at Duke’s Engineering school and an advisor to Validity, has known both students since they were undergraduates. According to him, "The Mike’s have been great students, engaged in all aspects of their education, but with interests far beyond traditional academics. They were able to take this idea, develop the tech and the business, and then successfully raise investment capital, honestly, this is the story all professors dream about".

While many companies in the blockchain space focus on the financial side of things, Validity.id takes a different approach by focusing on the humanist side. This is a bit different than what many would expect from two engineering graduates, but both have undergraduate degrees in other disciplines, with a common interest in applying technology as a solution.  The team plans to use the funds from Maven Ventures to accelerate product development, expand efforts to reach more users, and enhance the platform further.

 Overall, the success of Validity.id is a testament to the capabilities of students who can bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application. With the support of organizations like Maven Ventures and the guidance of academic advisors like Dr. Jimmie Lenz, there is no doubt that we will see more innovative solutions emerge from the next generation of entrepreneurs.