“The move will see our bank gain access to many of the exciting startups who pass through F10’s program, enabling us to shape and influence new technologies and business models in FinTech for the future as well as promote Switzerland’s booming startup culture,” said Remo Schmidli, Head of Multichannel Management at Zürcher Kantonalbank.
“This is not our first foray into the startup business. A decade ago, we launched our “Pionier” (Pioneer) Initiative, going on to invest more than CHF 100m ($100m) in startups and financing their development, creating almost 1,000 jobs in the process.”
“We are thrilled to welcome Zürcher Kantonalbank to our board of corporate members, their strong track record and experience in supporting and guiding new startups will be an enormous boon to the startups in our program,” said Andreas Iten, co-founder and board member of F10.
“F10 is a leader in developing the future of Switzerland’s financial institutions, and our sponsorship by the SIX Group reflects this. We are pleased to open up direct access to our innovation hub to Zürcher Kantonalbank and work with both startups and our corporate members to strengthen our country’s innovative, yet sustainable, approach toward the financial and insurance industries.”
Zürcher Kantonalbank joins several other global leaders on F10’s corporate membership board, including the Baloise Group, PwC Switzerland, Julius Bär, Generali, ERI Bancaire, and eny Finance. All members collaborate closely with startups going through F10’s various accelerating programs, giving them access to cutting-edge entrepreneurial ideas in business development and technology in the fast-moving world of FinTech.
Zürcher Kantonalbank is also a minority shareholder of investiere.ch, Switzerland’s leading investment platform, a member of Greater Zurich Area, a liaison for international companies wishing to settle in the area of Zürich, and Swiss FinTech Innovations, an independent association of Swiss financial institutions.
The cantonal bank is thoroughly invested in the startup economy of Zürich, sponsoring many events in the environment; their joining F10 marks yet another step forward in the bank’s close links with the community.
