Too Many Words, Zero Proof: Inside 31 Concept's Four Seasons Pitch for Technology That Can't Be Found
31 Concept, a company registered just in 2024, hosted a lavish Four Seasons Hotel presentation in Baku for a surveillance product that doesn't exist online - part of a pattern including phantom acquisition.
Under the crystal chandeliers of the Four Seasons Hotel's grand ballroom on February 3rd, a polished presenter introduced Baku's business elite to the future of network surveillance.
The product: "Odun.One," described as a breakthrough technology for monitoring encrypted internet traffic.
The company: 31 Concept, a Dubai startup claiming to revolutionize government surveillance capabilities.
The presentation featured professional master of ceremonies Jeyhun Ali, one of Azerbaijan's most recognizable television faces. The venue was among Baku's most expensive. The promise was transformative technology for telecoms and government agencies.
But there was one problem: the product being pitched doesn't appear to exist.
A 1news.az investigation found no website for Odun.One (URL redirects visitors to the company's site). No technical documentation. No product specifications. No pricing. Not even a simple landing page. For a company claiming "revolutionary" capabilities in one of the most sensitive technology sectors – surveillance - the absence of basic information raises fundamental questions about what, exactly, is being sold.
And Odun.One is just the beginning of a troubling pattern.
On the photo: Odun.One presentation in Baku’s Four Seasons Hotel (from Jeyhun Ali’s Facebook account)
The Company That Appeared From Nowhere
31 Concept emerged from "stealth mode" in 2025, announcing itself to the world with bold claims: artificial intelligence-powered network analysis, the ability to inspect encrypted traffic without decryption, partnerships with major industry players, and $6 million in funding from an unnamed "strategic investor."
The company's leadership appears legitimate.
CEO Misha Hanin claims to hold credentials from the MIT Sloan School of Management and three decades of technology experience (in a 2020 publication, he is called the CEO and Founder of a “revolutionary Blockchain as a Service provider”, though the company website of that venture lacks detailed information on the product and its clients).
On the photo: Misha Hanin (from Seed Group’s Youtube channel)
CTO Boris Heismann studied in Germany and worked alongside Hanin at previous ventures. Both maintain active LinkedIn profiles with relatively extensive networks.
Their product pitch in Baku targets a specific market: governments, law enforcement, regulators, and telecom operators seeking to monitor network traffic. It's surveillance technology, marketed to exactly the entities that deploy such systems.
Read in other languages:
Azerbaijan seems to represent a strategic market for Hanin’s company. In August, 31 Concept announced a partnership with a local ICT provider, known across the South Caucasus and Central Asia. In October, they exhibited at CIDC 2025, a cybersecurity event held in Baku, which was attended by representatives from the ministries, major telecoms, and government agencies.
The February 3rd Four Seasons event was the latest move in positioning for this market.
But questions about the company's substance have been building for months.
The Acquisition That Never Was?
In September 2025, 31 Concept issued a press release announcing a major milestone: the "strategic acquisition" of Xynthor AI Software Inc., described as a Canadian artificial intelligence company specializing in "AI-native data loss prevention."
The announcement followed standard corporate acquisition language: Xynthor's "pioneering AI capabilities" would be integrated into 31 Concept's platform, accelerating their technology leadership. It was exactly the kind of news that signals a growing company making serious moves.
But Xynthor AI appears never to have existed.
Its website https://www.xynthor.com is out of service. No LinkedIn company page. No presence in Canadian corporate registries. No mentions in serious Canadian technology media. No former employees listing Xynthor AI on their profiles. No archived web pages, no technical papers, no conference presentations.
The only evidence that Xynthor AI ever existed is 31 Concept's own press release announcing its acquisition, distributed through paid channels.
When real companies acquire other companies, traces always remain - registration documents, former employees, archived websites, industry mentions. Here, there are none.
For potential customers conducting due diligence, this raises an obvious question: if a company's claimed acquisition cannot be verified, what else in their corporate narrative might not withstand scrutiny?
A Media Presence Built on Paid Press Releases
Over seven months of public existence, 31 Concept has generated substantial online coverage. Google searches return dozens of articles on sites like Investing.com, Yahoo Finance, MarketScreener, and industry outlets.
But every single article traces back to paid press release distribution services - ACCESS Newswire and ACN Newswire. These services publish whatever content clients pay for, which is then automatically syndicated to aggregator websites that explicitly disclaim editorial verification.
Not one article from an independent technology publication. Not one technical review by cybersecurity experts. Not one industry analyst report. Not one investigative piece. Not one customer testimonial or case study from a verifiable client.
All quotes in all articles come from 31 Concept's own executives. This is not journalism. It is marketing presented in the format of journalism.
Compare this to how legitimate cybersecurity startups build credibility: technical blog posts analyzed by industry experts, conference presentations with peer review, customer deployments with measurable results, coverage in publications like Dark Reading or Krebs on Security, analysis by firms like Gartner or Forrester.
31 Concept has generated none of this organic validation.
The Singapore Conference Nobody Saw
According to company materials, 31 Concept made its international debut at ISS Asia 2025 in Singapore last July—a major security industry conference sometimes called the "Wiretappers' Ball" for its focus on lawful interception technology.
But the company doesn't appear in the conference's official agenda or exhibitor list.
31 Concept's explanation: their presentation was a "closed-door session specifically for government, regulatory, and law enforcement audiences." This conveniently makes the claim impossible to verify.
Major security conferences generate extensive social media coverage from hundreds of attendees, media, and competitors. ISS Asia 2025 was no exception - LinkedIn and Twitter were full of photos, booth visits, and presentation discussions.
Except for 31 Concept. No attendee mentioned them. No photos surfaced from their booth or session. No independent confirmation of their participation exists. Only paid PR materials disseminated via services like ACCESS Newswire.
It's a pattern: grand claims presented in ways that prevent verification.
What Are They Actually Selling?
According to company materials, 31 Concept's technology suite includes:
· InsightX AI - Claimed capability to inspect and classify network traffic "even when encrypted"
· InvestigateX - Described as network forensics and lawful interception
· MobilityX - Claimed subscriber mobility tracking
· ComplianceX - Described as data retention for regulatory compliance
These are surveillance technologies. The marketing emphasizes enabling governments and telecoms to "reclaim visibility" over encrypted communications - exactly what is sought for monitoring.
But technical claims cannot be independently verified. No independent testing has been published. No technical architecture has been released. No peer review exists.
For surveillance technology, where governments must trust that systems work as advertised and don't create security vulnerabilities, this lack of validation is particularly concerning.
The Odun.One Mystery
Which brings the story back to the Four Seasons Baku presentation.
"Odun.One" was prominently featured in the February 3rd event announcement. Yet the product has no online presence whatsoever. The domain odun.one seems to be registered, but no product page exists at this address (it redirects visitors to 31 Concept’s website’s main page). No specifications sheet. No white paper. Not even a marketing brochure.
The only online mention appears in 31 Concept's exhibitor profile for MWC Barcelona 2026, where "Odun.One" is listed among technology categories - but still without explanation of what it actually is.
This creates an absurd situation: a product ready for presentation to potential customers at one of Baku's most expensive venues lacks even basic documentation that those same customers would need to evaluate it.
Is Odun.One a product name? A platform rebrand? A market-specific version of existing technology? Nobody outside the company appears to know.
The Due Diligence Problem
For Azerbaijani institutions - government agencies, telecoms, banks - considering procurement of surveillance technology, 31 Concept presents a due diligence challenge.
Surveillance systems are uniquely sensitive purchases. They must work as advertised (or security operations fail). They must be secure (or create vulnerabilities). They must come from trustworthy vendors (or risk data compromise or backdoors).
Standard procurement due diligence requires:
- Independent technical testing
- Verifiable customer references
- Financial transparency
- Regulatory compliance documentation
- Clear terms of service and data handling policies
31 Concept has provided none of these publicly. The burden is on potential customers to extract this information privately - assuming it exists.
The February 3rd event, with its high-profile MC and luxury venue, signals serious intent to win Azerbaijan business. But intent is not necessarily a reality. And marketing is not a guarantee of success.
What This Means
31 Concept may be a legitimate early-stage startup with real technology that simply hasn't yet generated independent validation. The founders' backgrounds suggest genuine technical expertise. The partnership with the Azerbaijani company indicates some established players take them seriously.
But the pattern of behavior (a phantom acquisition, paid press releases presented as journalism, unverifiable conference claims, luxury events for undocumented products) suggests a company that has mastered the appearance of success without demonstrating its substance.
For a seven-month-old startup claiming "industry leadership" in surveillance technology, the gap between marketing and verifiable reality is striking.
The question for Azerbaijani decision-makers is simple: Is this the foundation on which to build critical security infrastructure?
A beautiful presentation at the Four Seasons does not answer that question.
Only rigorous due diligence can.
First News Intelligence Unit contacted 31 Concept for comment via their official website. This article will be updated if the company provides responses to the questions raised.
