VI Partners Swiss Innovation fund holds €71m first close

The fund will be managed by founding partners Diego Braguglia, Arnd Kaltofen and Alain Nicod. The team has also expanded with the addition of two investment professionals, Benedikt Luhmann and Cyrill Osterwalder.

"VIPSI is a great opportunity to reinforce our presence in Switzerland and follow promising cases abroad," said Alain Nicod, managing partner of VI. "We are glad to be able to deploy capital during the coming years since the world needs innovation to compensate for the drastic economic downturn caused by Sars-CoV-2 over the last quarter."

VI Partners also manages Venture Incubator, an evergreen investment platform launched in Switzerland in 2002. Venture Incubator invested around CHF 210m in 53 startups over its lifetime. Half of its portfolio has been sold and the fund will not invest in any new companies. It will focus on financing its existing portfolio and create cash reserves.

Investors
The fund's LP base comprises its anchor investor, Venture Incubator – which is backed by corporate investors including ABB, Bühler, Crédit Suisse, ETH, Hilti, McKinsey, Nestlé, Schindler, Sulzer, Suva and ZKB; the European Investment Fund (EIF), under the InnovFin Equity Facility for early-stage programme backed by the European Commission's Horizon 2020; and the Swiss Entrepreneurs Fund.

Investments
VIPSI targets early-stage technology companies based in Switzerland, while also making investments in later-stage companies across the country and internationally.

It invests in a wide range of sectors, with the aim of fuelling the development of the Swiss technology ecosystem.

People
VI Partners – Diego Braguglia, Arnd Kaltofen, Alain Nicod (founding partners).

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