SwissEF Fund raises CHF 190 million and begins investing

The Swiss Entrepreneurs Fund, launched in February this year by the Swiss Entrepreneurs Foundation, has successfully concluded its first round of fundraising, in an amount totalling CHF 190 million. In consequence, the fund can from August start investing in Swiss start-ups and growth-stage innovative SMEs.

Bern, 2 July 2019 – Subsequent to FINMA approval, a great number of investors contacted the two major banks and founding partners of the Swiss Entrepreneurs Fund, Credit Suisse and UBS, to express their interest in said fund. Institutional investors appreciate the goals of the Swiss Entrepreneurs Foundation and its fund, which aims to strengthen Switzerland’s ecosystem for innovation and start-ups. In recent months, Swiss Mobiliar, pension funds and qualified private investors have invested capital contributions amounting to CHF 190 million in the fund.

On this basis, the first round of fundraising has been successfully brought to a close. From August the fund can as a consequence start taking concrete steps to invest in Swiss start-ups and innovative growth-stage SMEs. The wide-ranging ecosystem for start-ups and innovative SMEs will be supported in the amount of CHF 120 million through investments in existing funds, under a ‘fund of funds’ approach. The fund will invest directly in carefully selected companies that have a funding requirement of CHF 5-15 million, their headquarters (or a significant portion of their value added)in Switzerland and which are pursuing a global strategy. This type of investment is capped at CHF 70 million. 

Urs Berger, President of the Foundation Board, had the following to say about the achievement of this important milestone: “We are delighted that the fund can start investing from the summer of 2019. Thanks to the extraordinary cooperation between UBS, Credit Suisse and Swiss Mobiliar, our anchor investor, the fund is now in a position to invest in success-bound Swiss companies of the future. As announced, Swiss Mobiliar participated in this first round of fundraising, contributing a total of CHF 76 million.”

Credit Suisse and UBS as well as the other responsible parties are extremely satisfied with the progress made and positively surprised by the amount of interest that the fund is attracting.The next round of fundraising is planned for the coming months, with the aim of achieving the target amount of CHF 500 million in full.

Detailed information can be found in the corresponding media release.