Our new Disruption by Blockchain series aims to highlight companies that are leveraging the incredible potential of blockchain technology to disrupt and revolutionize their industry. Through one on one interviews, we'll speak directly with industry leaders to cut beyond the hype and get directly to the heart of practical use cases and examples of how it will change the world, one industry at a time.

The following is an interview we recently had with Dmitri Moiseev, the co-founder and CEO of Naviaddress.

1. What’s the history of Naviaddress? How and where did you begin?

DM: Five years ago, Mikhail Gamzin, the co-founder of Naviaddress, was in Paris. Some friends invited him to a small, not widely known restaurant and, once in the taxi, he found that he had a real problem because the taxi-driver could not understand where to go. Mikhail decided to call his French-speaking friends and after passing the phone back and forth, he managed to get to the destination, but it took more time, added costs, and it was stressful. On the way back from the restaurant, he was thinking about how in our sophisticated digital age, in one of the leading capital cities of the world, could something so still be possible. He realized the need for a global, unified address system which uses only digits, since digits are the only universal language. But at that time, he was not sure that a small start-up company could be effective in bringing change to the addressing system.

Sometime later he thought about Uber and how it revolutionized and changed the way people order and use taxis, and the way AirBnB changed the way people seek and use accommodations, so he decided to change the way people use addresses in the 21st century. Mikhail set up a company in 2015. Later, I joined the company as a co-founder and CEO. Today the company is ready to “go global,” our ICO will start on March 1, 2018.

2. Who are the founders and key team members?

DM: Naviaddress co-founders Mikhail Gamzin and Dmitri Moiseev are entrepreneurs and venture capitalists with the vast experience in venture financing, technological innovations, and product development.

Together they have built and sold businesses for a cumulative value of 240 million USD.

The top members of the team have 15+ years of management and business experience in technology b2b and b2c businesses in such industries as IT, telecommunications, clean tech, smartphones, VC investment management.

3. What problem are you solving? What is your solution to this problem?

DM: Once the addressing system will be deployed on the blockchain, Naviaddress will enable 4 billion people in the world living without addresses to obtain a delivery postal address, verified (or secured) by a transaction on the blockchain at almost no cost. This will create a new market for e-retailers and delivery businesses (AliBaba, Amazon and etc.) and provide local governments with the ability to service more citizens with essential services.

Naviaddress falls into the category of blockchain ID management projects that will simplify the way transactions are conducted between common users and online retailers, delivery and other businesses as well as between users – without compromising privacy or security. Today, up to 20% and up to 80% of addresses in developed and developing countries respectively are not verified from the first time due to mistakes in address spelling, address verification and “last mile” navigation problems. Naviaddress will provide trustless verified and geo coordinates precise ID of users’ locations for online and delivery businesses.

For international tourists an address communication in the local language is the pain point

Naviaddress solves the problem for Local HoReCa and retail outlets, authenticating them for international tourists and expats.

5. Why is your industry ripe for disruption?

DM: US Postal service alone estimates the annual waste from mistakes in addressing and verification for more than a billion dollars a year. It follows that e-tailers and delivery businesses globally waste billions of dollars per annum due to the same issue.

Naviaddress disrupts the traditional addressing system by giving users a convenient and fast way to replace their impractical and lengthy physical postal address with a naviaddress, which is a short, easy-to-memorize and communicate a sequence of digits. It may also be able to function as “a smart address” because users can assign and store relevant information such as “last mile” navigation (embedded geographical coordinates, physical address, hours of operation, route description, photos and other metadata), which makes it also easier to find and communicate on complicated, remote locations or newly built structures.

International businesses in Europe are among the early adopters who are using Naviaddress to improve customer satisfaction. For example, Bee-garden in Cyprus uses Naviaddress [357] 5555 to fix an inconvenient issue they were experiencing on a daily basis: their farm is located out-of-town and the receptionist was spending a great deal of working time explaining the directions to find them to customers. With Naviaddress they created an address card with a detailed route description, open hours and information on social media channels. Now they send the message with the Naviaddress to the customers who plan to visit them. Naviaddress solved the problem quickly and permanently.

The problem of unverified addresses due to mistakes in address spelling, address verification and “last mile” navigation is a common pain for delivery operators and e-commerce platforms. Naviaddress makes it possible to provide accurate locations for e-retail and delivery services. It makes it possible to assign a short digital address to any place and object, to add a text description as “last mile” navigation (embedded geographical coordinates, physical address, route description, photos and other relevant information), which makes it easier to find any location and even newly-built structures.

“There are 2 key advantages to the Naviaddress solution on the blockchain. First, simplification of internal verification process: every point, every object can be assigned with its own digital address that we verify just one time. After that, it is considered ‘verified’ and does not require extra time for subsequent validations. Secondly, every pick-up point is given a short digital address, which is easy to share and remember. These measures improve internal efficiency of a logistics provider and create a better customer experience” – says Leonid Zondberg, Commercial Director of DPD Russia.

As of January 2018, there are 1.5 million naviaddresses in the system, including 1.3 million business naviaddresses, with the total number of registered active Naviaddress app users exceeding 60,000 people (including web, iOS, and Android). They are building partnerships with large address holders in delivery, e-retail and HoReCa businesses, such as booking.com, DPD, and plan cooperation with State Postal Services, AliExpress, Amazon, NinjaVan, etc. to share verified addresses with the platform. With over $5.6 million raised during Private Sale and aim to raise $20 million in total during ICO, there is enough traction to partner with some major players in the region and help make day to day navigation, urban planning, and logistics more optimized and efficient.

Naviaddress

6. What’s the future of your industry?

DM: As the world transitions from physical into digital having a secure and simple way to store and manage all your different kind of addresses is more important than ever. A digital address system with verified by transaction trustless ID for any object and location will cut waste and reduce uncertainties and risks in transactions between users, and between users and businesses. The digital address system will enhance the collaboration and transactions in online and shared economy. The emergency services would response faster to deliver resolving health, fire and security issues. All people in the world will have the freedom and ability to obtain, own or sell their digital verified addresses via smart contracts.