Fore ai: The Sword Startup Challenge finalist simplifying financial QA

Meet Simon Hecker, co-founder of fore ai. The fintech startup automates testing for financial software systems. 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?
We see the strongest impact in large enterprises running many business-critical applications with frequent releases and rising testing demands. QA is often still manual or relies on brittle automation that breaks with UI changes. As AI speeds up development, the testing gap is widening. Our autonomous QA agents close this gap by generating, running, and self-healing end-to-end tests at scale.

We typically work with Heads of QA, Engineering leaders, and CTOs, often involving Compliance and Risk teams early in regulated industries like banking and insurance.

What kind of validation have you seen so far that your solution creates value (e.g., user feedback, pilot learnings, general outcomes)?
Enterprises are replacing existing testing setups with our agents across regulated and high-velocity sectors, including a Swiss bank, a Swiss media group, and a global mobility company, where we automate end-to-end testing previously done manually or with brittle frameworks.

We deliver 3–5x ROI through 80% faster test creation and self-healing tests that eliminate ongoing maintenance, while a human-in-the-loop layer ensures 100% accuracy from day one in regulated environments.

If you started a pilot with one of Sword's clients, what would success look like in the early stages?
A strong early-stage pilot focuses on a narrow, measurable use case, comparing fore ai directly with the client’s current setup. We jointly select one or two high-value workflows, often in regulated environments, and generate targeted test cases.

We then benchmark performance across key metrics like setup and maintenance time, defect detection, audit readiness, and cost per covered flow. Results consistently favor fore ai, with lower effort and higher coverage, making scaling a natural next step. All test code created during the pilot remains with the client, reducing risk and keeping the process low-friction.

From your perspective, what makes a collaboration between a startup and a large corporation successful?
Three things, in our experience.
Three factors matter most: clear expectations for 30/60/90 days, a committed internal sponsor to navigate approvals, and a strong ROI case backed by measurable value and enterprise-ready delivery.

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?
We are particularly drawn to the focus on banking and wealth management, where testing is also a regulatory and risk issue due to complex systems, strict audits, and low error tolerance. Our agents are designed for this environment, and current work with Swiss and international banks gives us direct experience with security, audit, and procurement requirements. We would run a focused pilot with a wealth management client, validate impact on key flows like onboarding or compliance reporting, and scale from there into a broader deployment and joint reference case. Beyond the pilot, the program helps us sharpen positioning for wealth management buyers through business case work and pitch training, while providing valuable feedback to refine our value proposition for regulated industries.