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The Future of Banking Startups Pitch at the Startup Champions Event at ETH Zurich

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30.09.2019 00:00, Joseph Heaven

Over the last decade, fintech startups have focused on unbundling products and services, cutting margins, and acquiring customers from traditional banks. The Startup Champions event at ETH Zurich last week highlighted the 10 Venture Leaders Fintech startups that should be on your watch list for the future of banking.


The audience at ETH Zurich received inspiration and advice from successful investors and experienced entrepreneurs at the Startup Champions event. Keynote speeches by venture capitalist Daniel Keiper-Knorr, and angel investor Patrick Barnert, who sold his regtech startup Qumram to U.S.-based Dynatrace after roadshowing with Venture Leaders in New York in 2017. The 10 winners of this year's Venture Leaders Fintech, who'll roadshow in Hong Kong as the Swiss National Fintech Team pitched their ideas.
Daniel Keiper-Knorr, founder of seed-stage investor Speedinvest and one of Europe's most-active fintech investors, spoke of his rollercoaster ride through founding, pivoting, exiting and re-investing startups. "It's tough being an entrepreneur, but giving up isn't an option!" He also highlighted the advantages founders in Europe have as a super capital-efficient ecosystem, compared to U.S.- and Asia-based startups paying between three and five times the amount for tech-talent. His advice to startup-founders? "Customers buy solutions, investors buy problems – so make sure you work on a big-enough problem!"
 
Venture Leader alum Barnert congratulated the newest members of the Swiss National Startup Team on their selection by a jury of fintech exerts, encouraging them "You wouldn't be here if you hadn't already achieved great things."
 
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Venture Leader alum Patrick Barnert congratulated the newest members of the Swiss National Startup Team on their selection by a jury of fintech exerts, encouraging them "You wouldn't be here if you hadn't already achieved great things." Barnert's succinct advice to the latest Venture Leaders was them to define their own goals for the roadshow, be open to sharing their ideas with teammates, and to be more aggressive than Switzerland's traditional modest style. He underlined the importance for global-thinking startups to target a breadth of international experience for their supervisory and executive boards.
The Startup Champions audience at ETH Zurich heard all ten startup founders give lightening pitches, before voting for their favorite to captain the Swiss National Fintech Team in Hong Kong. After several rounds of loud cheering, a tie was announced between Raized.AI founder Penny Schiffer and Tokenestate CEO Vincent Trouche. The pair will co-captain Switzerland's Venture Leaders Fintech team throughout the Hong Kong roadshow from Nov. 3rd – 9th. Follow their week on social media using the hashtag #vleadersFintech
The startup champion's event was co-organized by NEO and Venturelab. The Venture Leaders Fintech roadshow 2019 to Hong Kong is organized by Venturelab and swissnex China and supported by digitalswitzerland, EPF Lausanne, ETH Zurich, IMMOMIG, PostFinance, Redalpine, Walder Wyss and Canton of Zurich.
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Additional Links

Read the profiles of all the Venture Leaders Fintech 2019 winners
Follow Venture Leaders Fintech via LinkedIn
Learn about the Venture Leaders programs
The Venture Leaders Fintech Program

Categories

Fintech Venture Leaders Venture Leaders Fintech

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