Company: Zamna
CEO: Irra Ariella Khi
Website: https://www.zamna.com/
About Zamna
Zamna: The Pioneers of Blockchain in International Aviation
Long before blockchain became a buzzword in corporate innovation circles, Zamna was quietly building one of its first real-world applications — not in finance, but in international air travel. Founded from the draft of a scientific paper over a decade ago, Zamna’s origins are deeply rooted in research, privacy-first principles, and a vision of infrastructure-level change. While the broader market was still warming up to the idea of blockchain, Zamna’s team was already exploring how it could be used to secure and verify identity data — without ever needing to share it.
That foundational principle — privacy by design — was embedded in Zamna’s articles of incorporation from day one. At the time, however, the world wasn’t ready. GDPR hadn’t arrived, and securing identity data was a concept met with scepticism, not support. Blockchain was associated almost entirely with fintech, and the idea of using it to solve passenger verification at scale felt implausible to most investors.
The turning point came in 2017, when IAG (International Airlines Group, the parent company of British Airways) launched the airline industry’s first ever startup accelerator. Until then, no airline had worked with startups, let alone invested in them. Zamna was the only participant to emerge with both an investment and a commercial contract — and notably, the only company led by a female founder.
Since then, Zamna has become the first commercially successful use of blockchain in international aviation. Their technology is not about decentralised finance or token trading, but about solving real operational pain points. Zamna enables airlines, airports and governments to verify passenger identity data accurately, securely, and without data duplication or unnecessary sharing. This reduces time, cost and regulatory risk — all while improving the passenger experience.
Zamna’s approach to blockchain is pragmatic, not performative. The distributed ledger is used as a foundation for matching and validating data across silos without ever centralising or exposing it. In doing so, Zamna delivers a rare combination: strong compliance with GDPR and other data privacy laws, plus commercial benefits for its partners.
The company’s contributions to the blockchain field have been formally recognised. As early as 2018, Zamna was cited in an IBM white paper as a pioneer of enterprise blockchain beyond fintech. It has been featured at major technology and aviation conferences globally and has contributed to multiple scientific publications through its ongoing collaboration with Oxford University’s Professor Peter Dobson.
In short, Zamna has quietly redefined what blockchain can do — not in theory, but in practice. While others chased hype cycles, Zamna built infrastructure that works, at scale, for one of the most tightly regulated industries in the world.
