Today, on 15 August 2022, Freja turns five, a miracle in a multitude of ways. Upon birth, her chances of survival were deemed slim as she was conceived to challenge a state-backed system controlled by big banks. Yet, Freja turned out to be a persistent little rebel who, through her tenacity, creativity, and sense of justice, silenced the sceptics who never gave her a chance.
At the beginning of the 21st century, the state, in conjunction with several authorities, wanted to introduce e-services for its citizens over the Internet, a phenomenon experiencing a breakthrough among the general public at the time. However, as there was no solution in place for identifying users electronically, the state turned to the banks for help. Several major Swedish banks joined forces and started what is now known as BankID.
Banks Empowered by the State
Although the system became a success over the years, the truth of the matter was that the state had given the banks the power to decide who should be given access to public e-services. Telia also offered an alternative e-ID to citizens for a few years, but this service was discontinued in 2013. At the same time, the process of digitisation was skyrocketing as more and more public and private e-services required an e-ID for identification and electronic signatures.
Complaints that Few Listened To
Complaints were raised by people with disabilities, young people, people with protected identities, Swedes living abroad, and other groups who could not use the e-ID that the state had helped become a standard. Hundreds of thousands of individuals were barred from e-services that required an e-ID.
At the same time, the banks were prevented from issuing an e-ID to everyone as they were bound by the state’s strict regulations on who was eligible to open a bank account.
Freja Takes Up the Fight
Freja was conceived in the opposition to the concept of several banks having the power to limit how Sweden should be digitised. Not only was it unfair, but it was also a bad deal for society, companies, and individuals. The emerging digital world was full of opportunities, and digital identification was a prerequisite for them. Such a world could not reasonably dominated by a single actor.
A Long Road to Travel
On 15 August 2017, Freja was launched with the first registered user coming from the small village of Dalarna. However, as there were no major services connected to Freja yet, demand was low and, consequently, it would be a while until a larger group of users found Freja. The challenge was to connect with enough services to make Freja interesting to people. On the other hand, without users it was extremely difficult to convince a company to become a customer of Freja. At this point, the sceptics were rubbing their hands and just waiting for the right moment to say: ‘I told you so’.
However, with persistence, constant product development, and passionate employees, we began signing contract after contract. And then the dam broke loose.
The Breakthrough Comes
It was in 2021 that we got the breakthrough in users that we had been fighting for. The number of users grew to almost half a million, and today it is approaching 700,000. There are almost 500 agreements with companies, public authorities, and municipalities. Our customers often offer multiple e-services, which means that the services that Freja can offer its users can be counted in the thousands. Additionally, Freja is accepted as a physical ID document at over 7,000 stores across Sweden. Further, Freja has become one of the major players in the field of service e-IDs. In April, Freja also became the first Swedish e-ID that works in another country – Malta – and soon Freja will be available for use in a wide range of European countries.
Much Remains to Be Done
Our goal is for everyone in Sweden to have Freja, and eventually to take Freja to other countries. Freja has developed from a small challenger to an important part of Sweden’s digital infrastructure that now does much more than electronic identification and signing. Freja is a digital wallet that can serve as your physical ID, Covid Certificate, and service identification. You can open doors with Freja. You can pay with Freja. You can have an ID protection in Freja. You can discover and interact with services directly from Freja. And, above all, you are the one who is in control of your identity in a digital world where tech giants treat your private data as a commodity.
A Word of Thanks!
The fact that Freja has come so far is a testament to our colleagues’ skill, creativity, and passion. They could see the cathedral we were building right from the moment the first brick was laid. They have shown that it is possible to challenge a monopoly against all odds and create something that surpasses that what we wanted to challenge – in terms of features, inclusion, and innovation. We also owe a debt of gratitude to our first partners and customers – and not least all the thousands of shareholders – who dared to believe in us despite the sceptics. Finally, we want to thank those of you who are using Freja – we created this for you, to make the digitised society we live in safer, more inclusive, and a little less complicated.
