Yulia Karra
February 4, Updated February 5

“In the next two years, Sequent is going to be the world’s market leader in online voting,” Shai Bargil tells ISRAEL21c.

Bargil is the cofounder and CEO of Sequent, described as the world’s first end-to-end verifiable and transparent online voting platform, with offices in Israel, Spain and the United States. 

Founded in 2022, the startup has introduced a cryptography-based and verifiable online voting solution for both private and public elections. Cryptography is the process of coding information so that only the person a message was intended for can read it. 

The platform is built to ensure voter confidentiality, vote verifiability and system transparency. The aim is to guarantee voter privacy and tamper-proof elections.

Filling a market vacuum

Sequent’s platform has a unique open-source technology that is said to be unmatched when it comes to reliability, compared to competitors.

Shai Bargil, co-founder and CEO of Sequent. Photo courtesy of Sequent
Shai Bargil, co-founder and CEO of Sequent. Photo courtesy of Sequent

“There are many companies out there in the field of digital democracy, which includes digital voting,” explains Bargil. 

“But they all operate as nonprofits, which is why they’re made to fail; it’s a double whammy because you always have to justify the donations,” he adds. 

“The amount of resources you need to invest to build a reliable online voting platform is astronomical; it requires a business model.” 

Bargil, who has a degree in software engineering, noticed this market vacuum when he was studying for his master’s in political science. 

Online voting initiatives normally pop up around election time on short notice and are usually riddled with problems, says Bargil. 

“There are academic or government bodies with budget caps that are mostly in charge of these projects, which never meet the standards of accuracy, security and reliability.” he claims. 

“However, if you actually build a sustainable, scalable business model around such a platform, then there’s a money engine pushing the progress forward.”

The payoff

Bargil declined to say exactly how much money the company has raised but added that “a good few millions of dollars” have already been invested in developing the platform. 

Fast forward to 2025, and Sequent has successfully conducted more than 200 elections across 10 countries, with 3.6 million votes cast on its platform, mostly providing solutions to local municipalities and government bodies, as well as the private sector. 

The Sequent online voting platform viewed by a user from a laptop. Photo courtesy of Sequent 
The Sequent online voting platform viewed by a user from a laptop. Photo courtesy of Sequent 

In collaboration with the Election Committee of the Philippines, the Sequent SaaS (software as a service) solution will be deployed in the 2025 national election, enabling 1.7 million overseas Filipino voters in 76 countries to cast their ballots online. 

Also this year, Sequent is poised to enter digital voting markets in South America, Canada and the United States.

Each voter gets a unique personal link to a web-based interface compatible with any device (no download required). After casting a vote, the voter gets a receipt to track the vote throughout the election and verify that it is tallied correctly. The software’s Election Manager interface allows officials to configure, simulate, control and analyze the entire election cycle.

Bargil admits that the company’s activity is subject to regulations in any given country. 

“For example, in Israel there is still no regulation that allows digital voting; but if in the future we would be able to offer digital solutions for Israeli elections, we would be very happy to do so.”

Finding the perfect cofounders

The startup employs 16 people across all its offices, including Bargil’s two Madrid-based cofounders: David Ruescas, the company’s current head of research; and Eduardo Robles, Sequent’s CTO. 

From left: Cofounders David Ruescas, Eduardo Robles and Shai Bargil. Photo courtesy of Sequent
From left: Cofounders David Ruescas, Eduardo Robles and Shai Bargil. Photo courtesy of Sequent

“I was looking for partners. One consultant, who is actually a leading expert in the election technology in the US, told me, ‘There are two guys in Spain that are already doing what you want to do; go talk to them.’”

Because the three cofounders already were working separately on the idea for an online voting platform years before the company officially launched, they had a market-ready product within months of being founded. 

From registration to voting

Bargil says the plan is for Sequent to become the leading digital elections services provider in the world. 

“From online voting to voter registration, and all kinds of other aspects related to digital elections,” Bargil notes. 

“Our solution is the best on the market, both when it comes to technology and academic research that we utilize,” he says.

What’s the meaning behind the company’s name?

“A sequence is basically the logical result of a series of operations that occur when you try to solve a mathematical problem,” Bargil explains.

“If you go through the entire sequence of actions that our platform performs, you get the logical result — elections that you can trust.” 

For more information, click here

More on Innovation

Fighting for Israel's truth

We cover what makes life in Israel so special — it's people. A non-profit organization, ISRAEL21c's team of journalists are committed to telling stories that humanize Israelis and show their positive impact on our world. You can bring these stories to life by making a donation of $6/month. 

Jason Harris

Jason Harris

Executive Director

More on elections