F10 becomes Tenity. The fintech incubator of the Swiss stock exchange SIX is breaking away from its parent company and investing venture capital on a large scale on its own, finews.com has learned.
F10, the fintech incubator of the Swiss stock exchange SIX has long since moved from the Foerrlibuckstrasse 10 address in Zurich that inspired its name. Now the company is changing it. F10 is becoming Tenity, according to a statement on Wednesday.
The rebranding of the company which guided dozens of startups in their infancy sees itself growing up as well, European CEO Marc Hauser explains in an interview with finews.com. This involves a growth strategy that includes venturing into new markets outside Switzerland and Singapore and building up its venture capital fund.
Investing Millions Annually
Tenity is emancipating itself from its parent company SIX as befits growing up. In a financing round in April, the exchange sold its majority stake in the company to new investors such as Five T Fintech and Synpulse. The six managing partners of F10 also bought into the company.
Tenity's new venture fund is raising capital itself to seed selected startups. The first investments are to be made as early as March, says Hauser. The plan is to invest double-digit millions of Swiss francs in young companies each year to build a broadly diversified portfolio of around 400 young companies in four years.
German-Speaking Switzerland
The fund will search for companies worldwide in the fintech and insurtech sector, in each case binding the startups to Tenity at a very early stage. «We want to be the first institutional investors in the fintechs in each case,» Hauser says of the approach.
SIX launched F10 in 2015, as the first of its kind in German-speaking Switzerland, arriving just in time to benefit from the startup fever in the fintech industry. While other incubators fell into oblivion over the years or went elsewhere, F10 established itself as a permanent fixture on the local fintech scene, with an offshoot in Singapore.
Over the past eight years, F10 supported a total of 250 startups in its various programs, with Tenity planning to add eight to fifteen startups to its program in each of the hubs twice a year.
«Bears» Remain Partners
Tenity's reputation has been built on the support of strong partners such as the private bank Julius Baer and insurer Generali, and it remains connected with them. In the spirit of an «open innovation» approach, the company conveys startups' ideas and expertise to established finance and business companies. «It makes sense for large companies not to drive every innovation in-house,» Hauser says.
F10 itself has been exposed to change. Started as an association, the last few years were marked by the intention to limit the expenses for parent company SIX, to make the fintech's offerings profitable. Two years ago, the transformation into a corporation took place. With the financing round last spring, Tenity is opening itself up for further growth. SIX will remain closely connected to the company as its most important investor and strategic partner, Hauser said.
To Infinity and Beyond
The new investors support the growth ambitions and finance the expansion into new markets. Last year's opening of an offshoot in Stockholm is a case in point, with which the Swiss want to get closer to climate and fintech startups in Scandinavia and the Baltics.
This offers the former Swiss-German startup access to the wide world. Hence the change to the firm's name which now includes a part of the word «infinity».
