When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. That could well be the motto for tenCube, with one unfortunate personal incident for the company’s co-founder five years ago leading to the development of one of the mobile world’s most popular security solutions.

“It all started when Varun [Chatterji], a schoolmate of mine from university days, got really frustrated when he lost his Nokia 6600 which was a pretty expensive phone those days (around 2005),” said Mr Darius Cheung, Chief Executive Officer, tenCube. “Unlike most people who would just file a police complaint and depend on luck to get back the phone, he tinkered around to figure out a way to disable the phone and track it.”

The team from tenCube. Mr Darius Cheung is in the back row, third from right.

The lights came on as Mr Cheung, together with Mr Chatterji and Mr Rishi Israni, saw the need and potential for such a service in the market. They decided to develop it further, particularly in light of the mobile boom.

“Smartphones have become our phonebook, e-mail, camera, navigation device, banking gadget, and social networking gizmo; you name it – it’s all going mobile today,” said Mr Cheung.

However, the problem of mobile phone theft and loss is significant, particularly with the explosion of expensive smartphones and mobile devices in the market. “Mobility continues to become a more important part of our daily lives, and losing these expensive devices, and more importantly the personal data in them, is just too risky,” said Mr Cheung.

To address the risk, tenCube’s flagship security product, called WaveSecure, enables mobile phone users who lose their phones to not just track the location of the phones, but also to lock the phone, back up critical data, and even erase the information on the phone.

“The Singapore Police Force was one of our very first customers,” said Mr Cheung. “We managed to learn and implement some of the highest security standards into our platform while working with them.”

In the process, tenCube has patented a few innovative technologies and built up a name for itself. “Working with reputed security organisations has earned us trust and a strong brand in the industry, and it also helped us assure our users that their information is secure.”

Public agencies in Singapore have provided strong support to tenCube, with the Economic Development Board being an early investor via the Start-Up Enterprise Development Scheme (SEEDS) fund, and SPRING Singapore provided support via its Technology Enterprise Commercialisation Scheme.

“Beyond that, we have also received help with finding good talent to join our team, via SPRING Singapore’s Executive Training Programme,” noted Mr Cheung. “Singapore provides a very good ecosystem for technology start-ups like us to grow.”

And growth remains the goal for tenCube’s founders. “We aim to be the biggest player in mobile device and data security domain, and our team is working to make that true,” said Mr Cheung. “Security features for mobile devices and data should really be a basic feature that comes with every mobile device.”

“Our ultimate goal is for people to have omni-conscience over their stuff so that you will never have to lose anything ever again,” he continued. “We are starting with mobile phones but currently actively working with partners on tablets, and as more devices become connected, we will have to keep up with the pace.”