In May 2020, Fintechnews.ch launched the Fintech Influencer Switzerland Interview series, which presents at least once a week a short interview we have conducted with a well-known, longtime Swiss Fintech Influencer to get his or her views on some of the industry’s most urging issues and hottest trends.
Today we speak in our last interview with the Swiss Fintech investor Ralph Mogicato, Ralph was nominated by Marc Bernegger.
Hi Ralph, what has changed for you personally during this pandemic?
My business life hasn’t changed much during the Covid Crisis. Since many years I work as a digital nomad. Everything is in the cloud and I am a heavy user of communication tools like Skype, Webex or Zoom. I even like Teams as a tool.
Do you think COVID-19 is the digital accelerator that the industry has been missing so far?
The dramatic consequences of the lockdown and the containment measures showed in every business where the digital loop wholes still are. I don’t know any business person who is not realizing that more digital offerings and services are better than less. Hence I call Corona also a fire accelerator for all businesses.
What is your current focus?
In the first few weeks, I mainly was busy speaking in boards or as senior advisors about securing the liquidity and implement the recommendations of our federal health department. In the most board we did in the beginning weekly status meetings. Right now we concentrate on every startup to boost sales. The sales activity drop was to me (not surprisingly) the clearest negative impact of Corona.
You were often in Singapore and know the fintech trends there very well, what are we missing?
Both countries did an excellent job in creating a fintech startup hub. During the crisis we saw on both sides heavy governmental support and helping hands everywhere. Though the financial sector was not hit so hard by the Corona crisis as the travel industry, I look positively in both markets for fintech startups. The dynamics speak clearly for Asia, but this is true for many industries. But the reality check comes after the crisis. Who is able to secure more money from investors and who is able to accelerate growth.
What can Switzerland learn from Fintech in Singapore or vice versa?
Switzerland and Singaporean startups have one in common. The home market especially B2C is too small for a substantial business. I personally think the Swiss fintechs have realized this faster and a lot of them pivoted to B2B. But in general, I would say we can each learn a lot from each other, but the markets and customer needs are very different. Where in Asia the financial inclusion has more weight, the Swiss startups tend to concentrate more on innovation and process efficiency.
Which Swiss Fintech Startup should we have on our radar?
On my personal list are for my startups: APIAX, IMburse and Sonect, just to name a few!
Please nominate a Global Swiss Fintech Influencer for our Swiss Fintech Influencer Survey
I nominate Gian Reto à Porta.
Swiss Fintech Influencer Ralp Mogicato*
Ralph Mogicato has over 25 years of experience in the financial industry in Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Singapore. He is now an active investor, board member or advisor for startup companies in the technology field (e.g. Starmind, unblu, APIAX, Sonect, IMburse) and guest lecturer at several universities of applied sciences as well as a lecturer at the University of Zurich.
