Fusion Start-ups Demo Day

Fusion startups held their 2019 Demo Day on May 9th (click here to watch the video).

Fusion Demo Day 2019 Audience
Fusion Demo Day 2019 Audience

The motto of the event was “Engaging Visionaries” and we indeed heard pitches from several true visionaries. Not just startups with a great concept, ready for the go-to-market, but teams with a true vision of the impact they want to have on customer experience, in its broad meaning.

And this applies to all three verticals: FinTech, LifeTech, PropTech.

To give you a few examples:

  • Eversend app allows users to execute fast, affordable and secure money transfers to bank accounts (using bloackchain) and mobile money, while saving you up to 70% in fees and foreign exchange. More than $6 million have already been transferred through their platform
  • SensArs mission is to restore complete functionality of upper and lower limb amputees, as well as those that had nerve-damage by providing a unique device worldwide, which allows amputees, unlike currently available prostheses, to feel again from missing limbs
  • Bloksquare makes real estate investing accessible, digital and global by tokenizing real estate via their blockchain based system

 

To quote Marc Elias, Director & Venture Catalyst at Fusion, being a visionary is having the following mindset:

Could be – Should be – Will be – despite what is

We wish all of the startups a great success and we encourage you to have a look at their profiles on Fusion’s website, whether you are a corporate, end-user, VC – or just curious about what tomorrow looks like!

Fusion Demo Day 2019 Networking
Fusion Demo Day 2019 Networking
Fusion Team
Fusion Team

Fusion: 2018-2019 Fintech Fellowship – Startup Final Selection

Coming from more than 10 countries, the 17 shortlisted startups gathered on Monday 16th in Geneva for the final selection day for the Fintech vertical of Fusion.

Each startup was given 3 minutes to come on stage and personally pitch its business model.
After gathering the mentors and members live vote, we (members) and the Fusion team debriefed in a separate room on the pitches and the results of the vote – and we were mostly all in line!
We closed the session with Sal Matteis, CEO of Fusion, officially announcing the list of the 9 selected startups.

Here they are, with a brief description tagline:

Apiax
Apiax transforms complex regulations into easy-to-use digital compliance rules.
www.apiax.com

FinQuartz
We turn financial news into portfolio Intelligence. Our algorithm powered by Artificial Intelligence identifies thousands of financial news sources, cuts the noise & only keeps the essential news for your portfolio.
www.finquartz.com

GoodBox
GoodBox is on a mission to grow the non-profit sector by building the best hardware and software to drive engaging fundraising campaigns.
Think social impact, social network!
www.goodbox.com

Eversend
A blockchain-based mobile-only banking alternative with a multi-currency wallet providing remittances, personal loans, payments, virtual debit cards, cryptocurrency and other financial services.
www.eversend.co

Trustless.ai
Exceptional Cybersecurity in the Palm of your Hand.
www.trustless.ai

Digibon.io
Digibon.io provides seamless digital receipts, connected to your debit or credit card.
www.digibon.io

EZYcount
AI-powered blockchain accounting – automating accounting.
www.ezycount.ch

Bond.ai
Bond.ai is a human-centered AI platform for banks, powered by its proprietary ’empathy engine’. It helps banks intimately understand user behavior to help meet their needs in the shortest time & also enhance back-office efficiency.
www.bond.ai

Delio
Financial institutions across the world leverage our technology, network and expertise to connect capital with private market investments. We are a private asset infrastructure as a service.
www.deliowealth.com

We very much look forward to their onboarding in October and wish them an enriching experience in Fusion’s ecosystem.
More to come… stay tunned!

Fusion Demo Day

Fusion Demo Day took place at La Mobilière’s beautiful new buildings in Nyon on June 7th.

Mike Nolet, founder of Livebetter, Josh Partridge, Vice President – EMEA, LATAM & Canada at Shazam, and David Brown from Open Stratosphere kicked-off the session by reminding us all that the key is to focus on the problem we want to solve, not the technology in itself, be it Artificial Intelligence or Blockchain.

All the start ups selected for the 2017-2018 season then presented their business model, recent achievements and next steps. We were proud to see they have indeed “accelerated” their go-to-market fit and delighted to hear that several significant business deals were closed over the last few months.

From dietary regimes to mental wellness, wealth management, elderly care and real estate transactions – algorithms and Artificial Intelligence will shortly be everywhere.

We shared a very energizing afternoon, at the end of which, we can agree with Sal Matteis (CEO of Fusion) statement that “Switzerland is the sleeping giant of tech”!

In this context, Sal announced the creation of a 4th vertical at Fusion: Impact-Tech. More to come!…

Watch the video here

Fusion start-ups selection for 2017-2018

Fusion start-ups selection for 2017-2018 is now public: 23 start-ups are joining the go-to-market acceleration program across Fintech, Proptech/Smart City and Lifetech.

The start-ups come from 13 countries including Singapore, Germany & Russia as well as southern Europe (Italy, Spain and France) and Switzerland. Fusion launched the first Swiss-based Fintech Accelerator – Fintech Fusion – in 2015 (read the story) and has recently added 2 new industry-focused accelerator programs – Lifetech & Proptech/Smart City to help build the future of the Healthcare and Real Estate industry.

Startups joining Fusion are named *Fellows* to indicate the long-term relationship between the startup teams and Fusion.

“Startup ecosystems outside of Silicon Valley have developed intensively over the past 10 years. What we see is rich verticals where core technologies and local ecosystem players make it a perfect seeding ground for interesting companies. Fusion partners with local incubators & accelerators and leverages its network of ambassadors to identify companies that have validated early product/customer fit and focuses its fellowship program on Go-To-Market fit. A company like Bambu – for example – which has strong early stage successes in Asia joins Fusion to get European reach and gain deeper understanding on the specificities of the European and Swiss marketplaces”, says Sal Matteis, CEO of Fusion.

Since October 2017 the 23 companies have been engaging with the Fusion network of Swiss, European and American mentors & partners who are there to engage openly and support startups through their growth phase.

“With Temenos we work with startups in the Fintech space to build a marketplace of global solutions that we provide as a plug & play to our customers. Fusion enables to reach many of these companies and create a structured process to build and integrate on the marketplace”, says Ben Robinson – Chief Strategy Officer at the Temenos Marketplace – who also helps the startups as a mentor.

At Notz Stucki, we believe that our membership in Fusion puts our feet in the fast developing FinTech ecosystem and gives us opportunities to identify better ways of working and new business lines.

Switzerland is the place for Frontier Tech

Switzerland missed a bit the .com wave, however the Swiss Ecosystem is a much  more fertile ground for startups that have a stronger technological core like AI, VR/AR, Big Data, Robotics, Genomics and Blockchain. Fusion is focusing on Frontier Tech to help shape the future of traditional industries with adoption of new technology.

The Lemanic region – stretching from Geneva to Lausanne – has a critical mass of global-headquarters in Bio, MedTech, Health-related and food corporations which added to Financial Services, Real Estate and Insurance industries has become a strong attractor for startups wanting to build their European presence.

“Fusion is perfectly positioned to enable the engagement and co-development between corporations in these industries and startups. The movement we started in Fintech in 2015 is now becoming a clear advantage to anticipate and drive the digital transformation of the Insurance, Health and Real Estate industries. Fusion partners with the likes of Temenos, Notz Stucki, Swisscard, Mobiliere,Investis to build the ecosystem. Most recently counting the addition of EPFL and Digital Switzerland in our effort, we have expanded our reach and continue to see accelerated momentum in enabling the evolution of these industries in Switzerland and globally”, says Sal Matteis, CEO of Fusion.

“We are experiencing a new wave of change for the real estate industry. Digital technologies are changing the playing field. With Fusion we are accelerating our path to working with proptech startups and building an ecosystem for real estate innovation” say Stephane Bonvin, CEO of Investis Group.

“With La Mobilière we created a Life Tech ecosystem to identify and work with the best innova- tions of this space and drive our vision to be a trusted partner in the life of our customers. Fusion enables to reach many of these companies and help us to initiate new services and to collaborate with start-ups to create new ways to interact and bring value to our customers”, says Thomas Boyer – Responsible of Life and Pensions business at La Mobilière.

“The collaboration with Fusion allows us to quickly learn about and fasttrack disruptive, game- changing innovation. We greatly benefit from Fusion’s local and global network that gives us access to relevant startups, key experts and other corporates who are keen to jointly innovate”, say Markus Feller, Head of Corporate Development & Business Transformation Swisscard.

 

Please find below the 23 companies joining Fusion:

Fusion Fintech Fellows 2017

BAMBU

Bambu offers an Intelligent Robo-Advisor for high net worth investors, White-Label Robo for affluent investors and Robo-in-a-Box for retail investors.

FRED DE LA COMPTA

Fred de la Compta allows centralization of all admin data in a single platform.

HELLO IZI

Hello iZi is your personal Stock Investing Assistant

SYSTEMKREDIT

Systemkredit creates an ecosystem of rated credit risks that benefits lenders and borrowers.

WEALTHINITIATIVE

Wealthinitiative is a peer-to-peer digital tool for high-end tangible assets & direct equity.

YAWAVE

Yawave helps companies leverage social-crowd activation to increase consumer engagement and brand equity.

 

Fusion Lifetech Fellows 2017

FENNEX

Fennex enables augmented hearing through its innovative seamless integration with AirPods and sound algorithms.

GERO

Gero develops omics data analysis methods to identify targets for therapeutic intervention against age-related diseases and aging.

HEARTWATCH

HeartWatch detects silent cardiac and respiratory problems through a common camera that looks at your face.

MEDICSEN

Medicsen is a personalized and automatic system to improve diabetes control through deep learning and real time telemonitoring.

MOJO

MOJO is a virtual life & business coach that accurately assesses the nature and evolution of the user’s psychological functioning.

NEUROSPHERE

Neurosphere is a neurotech company specializing on EEG brain-computer interfaces. Automated neurofeedback for brain training.

NUTRILOG

Nutrilog is a nutrition software for professionals through Meal Planning, Diet Assessment & Recipe Analysis.

PRYV

Pryv enables fully-compliant collection, structure, distribution and storage of data for health applications & products.

STUWARD

From recognizing Dementia and Alzheimer’s symptoms to managing specific behaviors. Stuward helps support people living with dementia.

Fusion Proptech & Smart City Fellows 2017

ADVISAY

Advisay is an automated assistant/chatbot for real estate management allowing for effective customer personalization. acquisition & engagement.

IS IT FRESH

Is it fresh provides a fully digital platform that makes packaging smart by the integration of chip and sensor technology.

NEHO

Neho helps property owners sell their house through a simple and efficient online platform.

TWINGZ

Twingz provides Smart Energy solutions for houses and buildings through integrated IoT Solutions.

WE HIKE

WeHike is a social platform helping hikers optimize their hikes. Powered by satellite technology for real time insights. WeHike’s data infrastructure can be leveraged for Real Estate and Smart City applications.

YETI VISIT

YetiVisit enables high quality 360° virtual tours for real estate professionals and photographers.

1AIM

1aim’s hardware-software stack enables any door to be opened with any phone providing an all-in-one solution to manage entrance, security and insights.

Fusion eXtended with Saxo Bank

Fusion eXtended is now live with Saxo Bank!

We are excited to see further development in the Fusion Fintech and WealthTech hub: Fusion and Saxo Bank announced a partnership to open Fusion eXtended Fintech in Geneva.

In the scope of this relationship, Saxo provides office space and mentoring to Fusion Fellows from the previous years of the Acceleration programs (2015 and 2016). As such, these entrepreneurs not only would benefit from prime office space in the center of Geneva but also the ability to continue co-working with fellow entrepreneurs of the Fusion community.  

“We are excited by this partnership opportunity which gives Fusion startups additional long term value by joining the Fusion Fellowship and reinforces the quality of the network and its potential synergies. Fusion startups get even stronger value long term by joining the Fusion Fellowship. It also further helps us foster Geneva as a fintech and wealthtech hub”, says Sal Matteis, CEO of Fusion.

The art market on the brink of a revolution: DXMarkets launches blockchain platform Maecenas

With its blockchain platform Maecenas, DXMarkets puts the art market on the brink of a revolution.

DXMarkets was one the start-ups which participated in Fusion’s first acceleration program back in early 2016. Its COO, Miguel Neumann, had explained how blockchain would facilitate illiquid portfolio management during Notz Stucki’s January 2016 investment conference… Well, little more than a year after, here we are!

After months of hard work, DXMarkets has created Maecenas, a blockchain-driven platform where shares of fine art are bought and sold.
On the platform, Maecenas divides great artworks into fragments, bought or sold by investors – just as they would buy or sell a share of a listed company. Which means investors can own a fragment of an artwork they could otherwise have never afforded.
On the other side, galleries can auction their masterpiece through Maecenas, selling fragments of the artwork – paying much lower fees than with traditional auction houses and getting immediate access to investors.

How does this work?

Here is the explanation of Marcela Garcia Casil, co-founder and CEO of Maecenas:

Maecenas blockchain art platform
Maecenas platform

“The gallery, for example, puts the art ownership in a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) and owns 100 percent of that vehicle. And then the gallery sells 49 percent of the SPV on the Maecenas platform. The crowd buys shares in this SPV. The beauty of this is that the gallery raises money and still gets to hang the masterpiece in an exhibition. And as the value of the art increases, the gallery and the Maecenas investors see the value of what they own rise. Plus, there will be a leasing fee so that the investors are paid for use of the artwork in the gallery.

Maecenas will issue a token in its crowdsale that will be the token used for all settlements on the platform. We are calling the token: ART. Now, don’t confuse the ART token with the fragmentisation of the artworks. The ART token is a utility token that is used to settle transactions on the platform.”

In other words, Maecenas creates a liquid market for fine art investments by splitting the masterpieces into fractions. This is one of the concrete applications of blockchain. And when we think about it, not only any kind of art can be auctioned on such a platform but in fact, all kinds of valuable and tangible assets such as collectible cars, vintage wine, etc.

Welcome to the digital world!

To learn more on Maecenas and blockchain applications, you may contact
Marcelo Garcia Casil
Twitter: @maecenasart
Website: https://www.maecenas.co/ 

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