SIX FinTech Ventures, the CHF 50 million corporate venture fund of SIX, has invested in its first two early stage startups, both of which aim to revolutionize the Swiss Financial Centre.
The aim of the SIX FinTech Venture is to provide the Swiss Financial Center with cutting edge technologies, business models and solutions that meet customer expectations. The SIX FinTech Venture fund invests in highly scalable startups, which have the potential to thrive as established companies and provide real benefit to the Swiss Financial Ecosystem. The fund invests in all relevant financial industry segments.
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Andreas Iten, Head SIX FinTech Ventures: "Our investment focus covers all relevant financial industry segments and emerging technologies, which will propel the actors in the Swiss Financial Centre to the forefront of FinTech. As a neutral corporate FinTech Investor with close connections to Swiss and global financial institutions, we have the tools and resources needed to support ambitious entrepreneurs and their unicorns to be. Ultimately, our goal is to further establish SIX as an innovative company with an international reputation as a trusted partner for startups.”
vestr and Shift Cryptosecurity are the fund’s first investments.
vestr facilitates the creation and life-cycle management of Actively Managed Certificates, a fast and cost-effective alternative to investment funds. Founded by experienced traders and quants, vestr graduated from the F10 accelerator program in 2017 and is working with tier-one banks to transform this business.
Founded in 2015 as a spinoff of the ETH Zurich university, Shift Cryptosecurity’s aim is to become the premier crypto engineering company in the world by building hardware and software based security solutions for cryptocurrencies and blockchains. Shift Cryptosecurity targets both individuals and businesses with its flagship product, the BitBox, now enjoyed by customers in over 100 countries.
“As a highly innovative and greatly respected independent operator and developer of infrastructure to the financial services industry, SIX Group is an ideal partner for our ambitious plans to revolutionize investment products” remarked Rico Blaser, CEO of vestrAG. “At vestr AG, we are committed to the transparency and liquidity of public markets and SIX Group is a shining beacon for this philosophy. For this reason, we are particularly proud to count SIX among our distinguished group of investors and collaborators.”
Douglas Bakkum, CEO & co-founder Shift Cryptosecurity: “Not long ago we were a crypto start-up in the SIX-backed accelerator F10, today we welcome SIX Group as an important investor.” commented Douglas Bakkum, CEO of Shift Cryptosecurity. “We hope to make a significant mark on SIX’s innovative financial ecosystem through products such as our BitBox which safeguards digital assets. And like SIX, we’re Swiss engineered.”
Source: SIX
