The printer of Switzerland's money is acquiring a start-up seeking to digitize public sector with blockchain, launched by an ex-UBS banker.
Zurich-based Orell Fuessli, which prints bank notes for the Swiss National bank, is buying a majority stake in Procivis, a start-up launched by Daniel Gasteiger in 2016 which seeks to digitize public sector services like citizen identities, both firms said in a statement on Monday. Neither party made public financial details of the transaction.
Gasteiger, well-known in banking circles as the former chief of staff to UBS Chairman Axel Weber, will continue to run Procivis at Orell Fuessli. The larger firm last year bought a minority stake in Procivis, which recently rolled out a smartphone-based identity solution for data handling.
Paradeplatz Disrupter
Orell Fuessli said the deal is meant to expand its business of digital identities and certificates. «We build on joint projects with Procivis to develop secure, trustworthy digital services for business and government transactions in the future,» CEO Daniel Link said.
Gasteiger co-founded Trust Square, a co-working space which in 2018 stormed Paradeplatz by projecting the bitcoin logo onto the Swiss central bank's facade. Trust Square recently outgrew its original office space and moved into more spacious digs in Zurich's prime banking district.
