Recognized by the Fintech News community for their strong growth and market potential, Dextra, Sygnum and Yapeal were named the most outstanding Swiss fintech companies.

The readers selected Miki Vayloyan and Andy Waar as the most influential fintech professionals of 2020/21, applauding their leadership and expertise, results from a survey conducted by Fintech News Switzerland show.

The poll, which ran between December 2020 and May 2021, asked the fintech industry to select 2020’s Top Swiss Fintech Startups from a pre-determined list of companies. These companies had garnered significant traction and made notable strides in 2020.

Participants were also invited to name the Community Favorite Swiss Fintech Startup of 2020 by nominating a fintech company which they believed was deserving of recognition but which wasn’t included in the list.

Top Swiss Fintech Startups

The poll gathered more than 1,000 votes and selected Sygnum and Dextra as the Top Swiss Fintech Startups of 2020.

Sygnum is the world’s first digital asset bank and a digital asset specialist. With a banking license in Switzerland and a capital markets services license in Singapore, Sygnum allows institutional and private qualified investors, corporates, banks and other financial institutions to invest in the digital asset economy.

Sygnum’s portfolio of regulated digital asset banking services includes digital asset accounts and custody, brokerage, tokenization solutions, asset management, lending and business-to-business banking services.

Sygnum signed for example Genevan private bank Bordier as a customer, allowing its wealthy clientele to buy, hold and trade cryptocurrencies. The startup is reportedly mulling a public offering that could include both Switzerland and Singapore stock exchanges.

Sygnum came neck and neck with SEBA, another licensed crypto bank from Switzerland. Sygnum won by just four votes.

The second winner of the 2020 Top Swiss Fintech Startup title is insurance player Dextra (simpego)

Dextra is a young online insurance company that entered the legal protection insurance business back in 2012 with the intention of offering more comprehensive and customer-friendly products. In 2017, this provider of direct insurance also ventured into the car insurance sector.

Today, Dextra is widely known for providing a generous range of customization options as well as flexible cancellation periods. Dextra was renamed in 2021 to simpego. Dr. Patrick Eugster, CEO of simpego wrote recently about the future of online insurance here.

Community Favorite Swiss Fintech Startup

Swiss neobank Yapeal was nominated by its peers and took the Community Favorite Swiss Fintech Startup 2020 title.

Founded in 2018, Yapeal offers fully digitalized financial services, including a Swiss bank account with a customizable IBAN, a Visa debit card, a mobile wallet as well as connection to the payment system. Yapeal was the first startup to get a Swiss fintech license in 2020.

Earlier this year, it raised “several millions of CHF” from Abacus Research, and recently inked a partnership with crypto startup Relai to give customers access to cryptocurrencies.

Top Swiss Fintech Influencers

The public was also invited to vote for the fintech experts whom they believed had been the most influential in 2020.

15 fintech experts were pre-selected based on their track-record, involvement in the community, and deep understanding of the sector. But participants were also welcome to nominate anyone they deemed deserving of the title.

The community named Miki Vayloyan and Andy Waar as the Top Swiss Fintech Influencers of 2020.

Vayloyan is the former CEO of regtech startup KYC Spider, a successful strategist, and a household name in the world of regulated environments. Currently she is the Director of Marketing at Intrum and is also an advisor of the new Swiss e-Wallet app Mogli.

In addition to her international wealth of experience on digital innovation projects, including in the area of ​​compliance, she brings additional momentum and foresight to Zug’s regtech space.

Last year, we conducted an interview of Vayloyan during which she shared what Switzerland had done right when it comes to fintech, and more.

Just a few votes behind,  Cornelia Stengel came in second place. Cornelia was recently awarded the Swiss Fintech Influencer at the Swiss Fintech Awards.

Waar is a serial entrepreneur, a lawyer and a digital marketing specialist. He was the CMO of Yapeal and the founder of Fintechrockers Club, a fintech community. Recently he announced to be a new advisor at the Swiss Wealthtech Kaspar&.

Waar also sits on the advisory board of Wirz & Partners (fintech and digital banking), is a member of the Swiss LegalTech Association, and is a guest lecturer at the University of Applied Sciences in Business Administration Zurich (Hochschule für Wirtschaft Zürich).

Waar spoke to Fintech News Switzerland in an interview last year, sharing how COVID-19 had impacted his life, what Yapeal had been up to, and more.