Digital ID wallet maker Lissi announces spinoff

German digital ID wallet maker Lissi is spinning off as an independent startup.

Led by Helge Michael, Sebastian Bickerle and Adrian Doerk, the company is betting on developing software for issuing, storing and verifying verifiable credentials in line with the European Union’s Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet, the continent’s plan to give each citizen a digital ID.

“The path to the future is already lined with promising collaborations, including municipal use cases with the cities of Cologne, Leipzig and Dresden as well as various use cases with major banks such as Commerzbank AG and ING Deutschland,” the trio says in a statement.

The company was incubated in 2019 by neosfer and represents its first self-developed spinoff. Aside from neosfer, it is also backed by venture capital firm Ninepointfive.

Lissi has recently announced the completion of the first phase of the competition for designing EUDI Wallet prototypes, organized by the German Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation (SPRIND). During the second phase, the startup will test use cases as part of the Potential consortium, one of the EUDI Wallet’s large-scale pilots.

The 13-month prototype competition kicked off in May, inviting six companies to participate with state funding and another five companies within the non-funding track, including Samsung, Google and Lissi. The competition is intended to solve the most important challenges in designing an EUDI wallet for German users.

In October, the German federal government announced it would introduce a state digital identity wallet as part of the EUDI Wallet scheme.

EUDI Wallet opportunities for private firms

One of Germany’s plans to create its EUDI Wallet is to open it to private 3rd parties. Involving private companies will create opportunities for competition and innovation, writes Martin Kuppinger, founder and principal analyst at identity-focused research firm KuppingerCole.

The OpenWallet Foundation has been supporting open-source, interoperable wallets that could serve various purposes. Aside from digital identification, wallets could support functionalities such as micropayments or specialized uses in healthcare, finance or mobility.

“However, the exact requirements for private wallet providers remain a bit unclear,” says Kuppinger in a blog post on the company’s website. “Certification processes and regulatory hurdles could pose challenges.”

A cornerstone of this EUDI Wallet vision is decentralized identities. These will not only allow individuals greater control over personal data but also play a role in complex use cases, such as secure data sharing and cross-border verification processes, he concludes.

EU member states are required to offer at least one EUDI Wallet to all citizens, residents and businesses by 2026.

Article Topics

digital ID  |  digital identity  |  digital wallets  |  EU Digital Identity Wallet  |  KuppingerCole  |  Lissi