FUSION, Switzerland’s first fintech accelerator, selects its first intake

Geneva, 7th of September 2015 – Fusion, Switzerland’s first fintech accelerator, announces the selection of its 10 start-ups, drawn from all of the world, which will enter its 12-month acceleration programme starting on 5 October. Fusion, launched in February this year, is the creation of Polytech Ventures, a venture capital firm based out of the Ecole Polytechnique de Lausanne (EPFL). The project brings together a broad group of stakeholders: corporate members such Temenos and Notz Stucki, which provide sponsorship and mentoring; resource partners, such as Capco, Kudelski Security, Arcanys and Interactive Data, which provide technology consulting; law firm id est avocats, which provides corporate and technology law expertise, and academic partners, including IDIAP (independant research institute affiliated with EPFL), which provide access to cutting edge research and facilities. Fusion’s unique multi-sector and multi-partner approach, which not only gives the opportunity for start-ups to be mentored by leading companies in their field, but also takes no upfront equity stake and has a multi-sector and multi-partners approach, has attracted a significant level of interest, including over 100 applications to join the programme.

The start-ups making up the 2015 intake are drawn from a cross-section of countries and offer solutions across the spectrum of financial services, from insurance to wealth management. As examples, AceBanker from China offers a mobile app to democratize wealth management services in China, Biowatch from Switzerland makes authentication more secure and less cumbersome using wearable devices, Fundrs from Holland uses Blockchain technologies to make asynchronous payments easier and more secure, and Edge Laboratories from Switzerland delivers a disruptive risk & valuation software for institutional investors.

Guillaume Dubray, Partner at Polytech Ventures, commented: “We are delighted with the positive response we have seen to Fusion. Given this is its first year, we were concerned that we might not get that many applications, but the level of interest has been amazing and, in the end, we were spoilt for choice. As a result, we have been able to select 10 really exciting start-ups from all over the world to bring to Geneva next month. And we have been able to choose start-ups in areas where Switzerland is a world leader, such as asset management, data privacy and risk management.”

The 10 selected startups are: AceBanker, BIOWATCH, DXMarkets, Edge Laboratories, eINS, Fundrs, KY3C, Investivity, Scanye and Wecan.Fund. For additional information on the selected start-ups, please visit http://www.fintechfusion.ch/community/startups/