Fintechnews.ch will conduct a series of short interviews around well known longtime Swiss Fintech Influencers.

We begin the series with Marc P. Bernegger*. Marc tells us what we should learn from Fintech Startups in Berlin and nominates a Swiss Fintech to watch and a Fintech Influencer to be interviewed.

Hi Marc, what has changed for you personally during this pandemic?

Businesswise there were not that many changes besides moving all interactions completely online. But as a father of two small kids the daily structure of me and my wife changed quite dramatically 😉

Do you think COVID-19 is the digital accelerator that the industry has been missing so far?

I think that COVID-19 will accelerate the speed of the digital transformation. On one side people get used to additional digital processes and behaviors and on the other side, they realize the convenience and advantages of organizing most parts of their business and private life from their home (screen)…

What is your current focus?

I shifted my main focus from fintech to Bitcoin and crypto assets in general so that’s my main field right now. As somebody who founded his first internet company in 1999 I see a lot of similarities in the blockchain and digital currencies space of today…

You were often in Berlin and know the fintech trends there very well, what are we missing?

In the last years a few very big and successful fintech companies emerged out of Berlin (N26, Raisin, FinLeap with Solaris Bank and several other success cases, just to mention a few) and they raised more than 3 billion in venture capital (N26 alone raised around half a billion) and have thousands of employees. Unfortunately, our startups in banking hubs like Geneva or Zurich are not coming close to these numbers…

Please tell us a Fintech in Berlin we should watch closely?

I am a little bit biased and so I don’t mention FinLeap and its ventures here 😉 I like the approach of Trade Republic (commission-free trading) and in the blockchain field I follow the team of Bitwala very closely.

What can Switzerland learn from Fintech in Berlin or vice versa?

For Swiss fintech startups: You should grow and scale more aggressively and also increase the funding pace if you really want to become a leading player in your field. For Berlin startups: You should hire senior guys with experience in traditional banking and try to involve strategic collaborations with incumbent players as early as possible.

Which Swiss Fintech Startup should we have on our radar?

Again I don’t mention the Swiss fintech startups where I am personally involved 😉 I like the setup of Alpian which is incubated by the Swiss banking group REYL. The combination of a traditional and established Swiss private Bank and a young and entrepreneurial team might be the right approach to succeed in a small domestic market like Switzerland…

Please nominate a Global Swiss Fintech Influencer for one of our next interviews:

What about Ralph Mogicato?

*Bio Swiss Fintech Influencer Marc P. Bernegger:

Marc is a serial tech entrepreneur. He co-founded the party platform usgang.ch in his 20s, and later sold it to Axel Springer Media. Marc is also a co-founder of amiando, a ticketing platform, which was purchased by Xing and was named “Global Technology Pioneer” by WEF. After his second exit in 2010 Marc bacame active as a fintech investor (Partner at Next Generation Finance, Venture Partner at Orange Growth Capital, Advisory Board at FinLeap, …) and explored Bitcoin in 2012. Today he is among others in the Board of Crypto Finance Group, Falcon Private Bank and CfC St. Moritz.