Divizend: The Sword Startup Challenge finalist simplifying tax reclaims

Meet Simon Thobe, Head of Business Development at Divizend. The fintech startup helps investors to reclaim their taxes by automating the reclaim process of foreign withholding tax on dividends. Simon is one of the 5 finalists of the Sword Startup Challenge, competing for venture clienting opportunities, expert support, and industry exposure.

Sword Switzerland, a global technology transformation company, has launched the second edition of the Sword Startup Challenge, its Swiss innovation competition dedicated to startups developing solutions for the wealth management sector. Organized in collaboration with Venturelab, the program began in January and will run through June 2026.

In which situations does your solution create the most impact, and who is usually involved on the customer side?
Divizend’s withholding tax reclaim solution is particularly valuable for wealth managers and private banks seeking to improve client returns on international portfolios, as well as custodians and clearing houses managing large reclaim volumes efficiently and compliantly. Key stakeholders include heads of taxation and custody operations, wealth management product managers, and IT or digitalization leads. Thanks to its automated architecture and low integration effort, implementation is faster than with traditional providers.

What kind of validation have you seen so far that your solution creates value (e.g., user feedback, pilot learnings, general outcomes)?
The clearest validation is our commercial traction across the DACH region and beyond, with partnerships involving global custodians, clearing houses, private banks, and wealth managers. Clients value both the measurable recovery of foreign withholding taxes and the ease of integrating our platform without costly IT projects, while adoption by conservative financial institutions confirms confidence in our reliability and compliance standards.

If you started a pilot with one of Sword’s clients, what would success look like in the early stages?
Early-stage success means fast integration, quick activation of reclaim cases, and measurable tax recovery results. A successful pilot also confirms strong collaboration with clients’ compliance, operations, and technical teams, allowing workflows to be refined together through a co-development approach.

From your perspective, what makes a collaboration between a startup and a large corporation successful?
The most successful collaborations share three characteristics: a committed corporate champion who can remove internal blockers, a clear but flexible process that allows iteration, and transparent communication about constraints and timelines. As a lean, founder-led team, we move quickly and rely on openness on both sides to avoid misalignment.

What specific opportunity do you see in the Sword Startup Challenge, and how would you leverage it to create value with one of Sword’s corporate clients?
Switzerland is a global wealth management hub, yet Swiss residents miss out on reclaiming hundreds of millions in foreign withholding taxes each year. Divizend addresses this gap by simplifying tax reclaims and improving client returns.

The Sword Startup Challenge provides access to corporate partners looking to improve service quality and net returns without adding operational complexity. For Divizend, it is an opportunity to launch pilot integrations, demonstrate measurable ROI, and strengthen its position within the Swiss wealth management ecosystem.