Twenty years together through the good, the bad and the ugly.
We understand that nothing really goes to plan when you are trying to build the future. Targets, deadlines and churn rates, any can be missed when constant focus isn’t applied and stress levels rise. We have been there before, we have steadied the ship, removed roadblocks and provided support for the next stage of growth.
Capital buys time but the market waits for no one. Efficiency, productivity and transparency are key for entrepreneurs in our portfolio and the time we spend with them as partners in their journey to greatness. Our job is to pool the knowledge gained by decades of successes and failures and share that wisdom with those we back.
We don’t run the companies we invest in; we try to behave like the partner we wished we had if we were.
Our relationships with corporate and academia run deep. Decades deep. We are fortunate to include global leaders in the areas of robotics, consulting, engineering, production, insurance and finance in our investor base - ABB, Buhler, Credit Suisse, ETH, Hilti, McKinsey, Nestle, Schindler, Sulzer, Suva and ZKB. We jokingly call this our “unfair advantage”.
Beyond their investment into our fund, these partners work with us to mutually understand a space or emerging trend, find new exciting companies or become customers of our relevant portfolio businesses.
We are also fortunate to have relationships with management and professors at some of the world’s leading technology and life sciences universities, such as ETH and EPFL, the universities of Basel, Geneva and Zurich - dating back more than 20 years. Our network also consists of a wealth of European and international investors who we have previously invested with or bought into our companies for follow-on rounds.
We invest in both digital technologies and life sciences, priding ourselves on our interdisciplinary approach to select and support our portfolio firms. Our geographic emphasis is Switzerland and neighbouring countries, but we also look further afield if the opportunity makes sense.