With $20M In The Bank, JetSmarter Is Building The Uber Of The Skies

JetSmarter, a private air transportation startup, wants to make commuting by private jet a reality for all travelers.

With $20 million in Series B funding from the Saudi Royal Family, music and entertainment moguls including Jay-Z, and executives at companies such as Goldman Sachs and Twitter, the company will take a big step closer to that goal.

Originally launched in 2013 as a booking platform to serve the niche market of wealthy jet-setters, JetSmarter aggregates prices and availability from over 800 private flight providers across the country.

Using the app, travelers can select from over 3,000 airplanes that range from a propeller plane to a Boeing business jet, and book a flight to nearly any city.

“That’s the traditional niche market, the charter customer who pays to create itineraries for themselves,” says founder Sergey Petrossov. “But the price barrier to create your own charter flight is still very high, and it’s only an option for about 250,000 people in the U.S.”

That’s why JetSmarter also offers a membership program to make private jet travel more affordable for frequent fliers. For an annual fee of $9,000 a year, members have total access to the 35,000 hours of private flights that JetSmarter has pre-purchased — at no extra cost.

Members have two options: JetDeals, which are spontaneous last-minute, one-way flights, or JetShuttle, which offers shared, scheduled flights between major cities.

“Essentially it works like an airline, except you go through private carriers,” says Petrossov. “There’s no going through security, you just pull up to a private plane five minutes before you take off and go.”

Paying $800 per month to make unlimited trips across the country, by private jet, sounds absurdly inexpensive. Currently, the majority of the JetShuttle flights range from 1.5 to 3 hours, but Petrossov says that the company is currently working on a better coast-to-coast product.

“We’ve really democratized the private jet space,” says Petrossov. “Today for $800 a month, you can actually start flying on private jets.”

JetSmarter is not the first startup to go after the “Uber for private jet” business. Blackjet, a similar service also backed by Jay-Z, ceased operations in late 2013 due to a lack of capital, but appears to be back up and running. Victor, another private jet charter startup, closed $5 million in new funding earlier this year.

JetSmarter counts thousands of members, and hundreds of thousands of non-member users, who check the app an average of 3.2 times per day.

Petrossov says that all of the investors in this round started as JetSmarter customers, because he wanted brand ambassadors involved in the early stages of the company. He hints at a large institutional fund raise before the year’s end.

“We want to make all air travel private, meaning we’re competing with airlines, not private jet companies,” Petrossov says. “This may be a 20- to 30-year vision, but with more efficient aircraft and proper sharing tools, we can reach that future.”

Source:TechCrunch

Contactless payment cards 'put millions at risk of fraud'

Cheap card-reading technology that is easily available online can be used to swipe details from contactless cards, warns Which?

Contactless payment cards were used more than 1bn times in the past 12 months in Europe, but a security flaw means they can be "easily and cheaply" exploited for fraud, according to new research by the consumer watchdog Which?

Using inexpensive card-reading technology puchased from a mainstream website, the researchers were able to bypass security measures and remotely 'steal' key details from 10 contactless cards (six debit and four credit).

These included the card number, expiry date, and a list of the last 10 transactions carried out on the card. However, none of the cards revealed their CVV security codes (the number on the back of the card).

Although it is difficult to make online purchases without the cardholder's name and CVV code, the researchers succeeded in ordering two items – including a £3,000 TV – from a mainstream online shop using the "stolen" card details, combined with a false name and address.

Security features like Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode help to ensure that fraudsters can’t easily use the cards they steal, but Which?'s tests suggest that some online shops sacrifice financial security in favour of an easier checkout.

Peter Eisenegger, a security expert who helped develop European standards for contactless cards, warned that it may be possible for criminals to obtain card readers that can read details from further away than the one in the Which? test.

"It's vital to protect consumers from fraudsters who have the knowhow to develop mobile card readers with much greater reading distances than those used by retailers," he said.

Official fraud figures for contactless cards show losses attributable to contactless fraud are less than 1p per £100. However, a spokesperson for the UK Cards Association admitted that, although levels of encryption have increased, it is still possible for card details to be read remotely.

Which? added that it is difficult to know the true scale of theft via contactless readers, as it is almost impossible for the victim to know whether their card details had been lifted this way.

• Five ways hackers could rob you blind
• 10 tips to make shopping online safe

"As the use of contactless payment becomes increasingly widespread, it has never been more important for banks to have robust security checks in place. Not only to ensure that sensitive data is masked, but also to flag unusual activity on a user’s account," said Ross Brewer from security intelligence company LogRhythm.

"As contactless payment limits rise to £30 in September, it is more likely that criminals will begin to target cards rather than the old-style chip and pin for a quick and easy pay day."

Laurance Dine from Verizon’s Investigative Response Team added that biometrics offers a great alternative way to authenticate individuals.

"The reasoning is simple: since everyone has a unique biological identity, let’s apply that single biological identity to cyberspace to establish trust.," he said.

"Fingerprint biometrics usually afford the easiest user interface – simply place your index finger or thumb on a reader and authentication takes place, much like the recently launched Apple Pay solution. The bigger question is whether cards as a payment device have had their day?”

Source:Telegraph