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How many times have you accidentally taken a toll road without a tag or traveled to a part of the country where the toll system is different than what you have already paid for?
As a tennis-playing father of four daughters, Fareed Zein spent years driving “from California to Florida,” he says. During those years, he and his wife had one toll violation after another. “I thought, there must be an easier way’” he recalls.
Fortunately, Zein was more than just a sportsman who drove thousands of miles. The University of Texas graduate has spent his 26 years developing IT systems at Shell. He retired from that position in 2015 and is now in his UT so he can spend more time out with his youngest daughter, who plays for Austin. In 2019, he used his tech expertise to launch his Unytag. This is a company focused on making it easier to drive around the country, as the Zein family has done many times.
Unytag is a system that allows users to discard multiple charge tags and use only one RFID (radio frequency identification) sticker and app. Zein says the app, which is currently in testing, will be available for both his IOS and Android phones later this year.
“The phone is the device we all have these days, right?” says Zayn. “It simplifies the way you pay for your toll, similar to using your phone to pay for your latte at Starbucks.”
Another great thing about the Unytag system is that it’s pay-as-you-go instead of users depositing a set amount like most paid systems do. Funds will be withdrawn by Unytag when needed. And it works for all paid tags in the country, with plans to expand globally.
Zein brought his technical genius to Unytag, but he still had to learn to be a founder. He credits the founder’s participation in his institute’s pre-seed his accelerator as helping him launch from scratch.
“From there, we decided that we needed to start building the necessary infrastructure,” recalls Zein.
Next, we worked with the Texas Venture Labs accelerator and were selected as finalists for the 2022 Houston Innovation Awards Gala. Most recently, Unitag won his Houston Startup Showcase last November, winning his $10,000 prize from The Ion and his $20,000 in legal services from Ion partner Baker Botts.
“It was a pretty big confidence builder that we were on the right track, and it was also a great way for us to start the year,” says Zein.
These opportunities are just some of the reasons why Zein is proud to be a “Born and Raised in Houston” company. The extensive network he has built over his 32 years living in the Houston area has provided Zein with many opportunities for growth that he would not have found elsewhere. Two of his members on his current team were colleagues at Shell.
“Having an ecosystem that supports innovation is exactly what we needed,” he adds. “We are extremely proud of the future of Houston’s tech startups, with The Ion and his Innovation District continuing to grow. We are ready to create the next success story.” “
Fareed Zain racked up a good chunk of the toll — and he designed a better way. Photo credit: Unitag
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