Moscow Polytech graduate’s startup attracted 20 million rubles in investments
The “NFCKEY” project, developed by a graduate from the Faculty of Information Technologies of Moscow Polytech Ivan Menyailov, has received a valuable financial support. The start-up studio “ROSBIOTECH” invested 17 million rubles in the project, and the Foundation for the Promotion of Innovation provided the grant in the amount of 3 million rubles.
“NFCKEY” is an innovative “smart lock”, which is working using the NFC technology. The device allows opening doors by simply holding your smartphone to the lock. The uniqueness of the solution is in its ability to function without an Internet or Bluetooth connection, as well as in compatibility with Android and iOS platforms.
“The idea of the creation of a “smart lock”, which one may open with the help of a phone, came to me in the first year of the university. Moscow Polytech gave me a solid foundation for the realization of this project – I mastered programming and learned to organize the working process. It is noteworthy that we printed the first 3D prototype, which became an MPV of our project, at the laboratory of the University,” - noted the project head Ivan Menyailov.
ince its foundation in spring 2023 the “NFCKEY”, the team has achieved a significant success: the operational prototype of the lock was created, the applications for Android and iOS with NFC support were developed; the administration panel and server API were realized, as well as the algorithm of the lock opening has been debugged.
The received investments will be used for the purchase of components, conducting security audits, recruiting new specialists as a staff, and the development of own microcontroller. The project implementation plan has been developed for a year and a half, and is subdivided into four stages.
“At the first stage, we will complete the development, conduct testing of the system security, and get ready for entering the market. The second stage includes security audits and start of sales. At the third stage, we plan to develop additional products, related to the lock. The fourth stage supposes entering the market with related products and an attempt to enter the international level,” - shared the plans Ivan Menyailov.
The «NFCKEY» team includes eight students and graduates from Moscow universities. In addition to Ivan Menyailov, there are other people involved: Alexander Kovshyk (a leading technical specialist and a web developer), Nikita Podkolzin (a backend-developer) and Polina Sychyova (a designer), who are representing Moscow Polytech.
