Thread by @sarah_lindt

#Election2020
#CountEveryLegalVote
#Scytl

[Thread] --> #Scytl

Andreu Riera founded #Scytl in 2001. The cryptography expert came up with the idea during the 2000 U.S. presidential election.

Although, Riera died in a car accident 2006, missing out on Scytl’s biggest phase of growth and its sunset.
novobrief.com/scytl-pere-val…

But in 2000, during the Florida recount, which decided the election between #Bush and #Gore, Andreu #Riera became an idea, that an electronic vote would have to be more effective than the business of paper ballots and hanging chads.

He had been interested in the e-voting: how to reconcile the need for confidentiality with voter verification.
#Reira put together a team and scientists. But there were no investors. It was hard to explain such a complicated technology, they were new in the market.

Noone wanted to take risks.
They desperately needed a first customer, and found it in 2004, in Neuchâtel, Switzerland.

Neuchâtel became a test case and a turning point for the Spanish startup. Using the project as a runway, #Scytl grew quickly after that.

The money began flowing in. Several investors came on board, including Vulcan Capital, the fund controlled by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. With financial injections, Scytl successfully made the jump from the academic world to the open market.

#Scytl registered 40 patents and hired 600 employees around the world. Until a few years ago, Scytl’s 120 million euros in venture capital made it the best-financed startup in Spain.

Riera, who felt more comfortable in the research world than in the corporate world, turned the company over to the new CEO, Pere #Valles. In 2006, Riera died in a car accident.

In 2006, Riera died in a car accident.

▶️ Was is a coincidence?

▶️ Who actually was Pere #Valles, the new CEO of #Scytl ?

#Valles joined #Scytl in 2004 when the company was formed by 12 researches and has grown its business and staff to hundred millions in revenue and 600 people.

But let us check his background to understand such a progress.

Prior to joining Scytl, Mr. Valles was Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer of #GlobalNet, a #NASDAQ publicly-traded telecommunications company in Chicago.
Previously, Mr. Valles had worked for #KPMG’s Mergers & Acquisitions group in Los Angeles and Miami.

During his career at #KPMG, Pere Valles actively participated in more than 20 transactions in the telecommunications and technology areas.

Valles is said to have contacts with #MediaMatters - "a politically left-leaning, nonprofit organization", due to Wiki.

But Wiki also kindly tells us, that #MediaMatters in 2004 received the endorsement of the Democracy Alliance (George Soros is one of its founding members), and in 2010 was donated $1 million direct by George Soros - to fight the FoxNews.

There r some other remarkable connections between #MediaMatters,#JohnPodesta & #HillaryClinton. It´s worth a separate story
We need to come back to Pere Valles, who, by the way, was said to be a high level contributor to the #Obama Campaign in 2008. It´s up to u to believe or not

So we are still in 2006, when, following the death of its founder Andreu Riera in a car accident, Scytl received significant investment from venture capital firms thanks to the useful connections of Pere Valles, the new CEO of Scytl.

Let´s look closer on #Scytl Investment ⏬

https://twitter.com/_Shatterhand_/status/1325832478465142784?s=20

Spinnaker SCR is owned by Ryva y Garcia, another Spanish investment firm.
Spinnaker recieved money from European Investment Fund

Vulcan Capital, the fund controlled by Microsoft co-founder #PaulAllen.

#Scytl recieved in 2014 $40 million from Vulcan Capital.
PitchBook News:2014-08-05
▶️ wikileaks.org/hackingteam/em…

Did Vulcan Capital unwittingly hand $40 million to an election technology company that exists at a nexus of intelligence community lead investment?

▶️ freepress.org/article/how-in…

to be continued..