fidentity: The Venture Leader Fintech elevating online identity verification processes

17.11.2022 09:00, Morgane Ghilardi

The Swiss National Startup Team welcomes new members after our expert jury selected ten startups for the Venture Leaders Fintech 2022 program. In anticipation of the London roadshow at the end of November, we would like to introduce our community to each of the Venture Leaders. Meet Thorsten Hau, CEO of fidentity.

Name: Thorsten Hau
Location: Kaufdorf, Bern
Nationality: Swiss
Graduated from: University of St. Gallen (HSG) in 2009
Job title: CEO 
Number of employees: 10 
Money raised: CHF 2 million 
First touchpoint with Venturelab: Venture Leaders Fintech in 2022

What does your startup do and why?
fidentity creates trust in the digital world by integrating online identification and digital signatures into one simple process that is accessible to everybody. 

How and where did you come up with the idea for your startup?
I was responsible for a payment product at Swisscom, which was a niche product that allowed users to pay for apps via their phone bill. We wanted to have a simple and seamless user identification to attract more users to boost the product, but there was no good solution. So, Edi and I decided to fix that.
 

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"Our vision is that digital signing becomes as secure and simple as using a pen and paper."

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What do you expect from the Venture Leaders roadshow, and how will it help you achieve your vision? 
For the next growth step, we need to start looking at the European market. Since our clients are mostly financial service providers, London is the ideal place to create new connections and better understand requirements in a more global market. The roadshow is a fantastic way to kickstart that journey.

Whom does your solution help, and how?
We are helping financial service providers to onboard new clients. Our unique selling proposition is that we make identification and signing both simple and secure. Today, users must often choose between the two. By encapsulating the technical and legal complexity, we make the process easier for more and more clients. Our vision is that digital signing becomes as secure and simple as using a pen and paper.

What are you most excited about at work right now?
We are in the process of certification for qualified signatures. This requires a level of quality and expertise that very few companies have. We are certain that, paired with this quality level, our uniquely simple user experience will be a game changer in the industry, making digital signing viable for a much wider market.

How did you build your team?
We started fidentity as a spin-off of an existing company. This gave us a great advantage with regard to breadth and depth of knowledge. Step by step, we are becoming more independent. When it comes to hiring, we are rather conservative; we try to increase efficiency rather than expand if we can. When we do hire, the focus is on people who can develop in their roles and grow with us.
 

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"With a tiny team, we went from a website where you could upload an image of your ID document to a high-tech company that works on the bleeding edge of artificial intelligence."

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Which market are you addressing and what is the potential of your startup?
As for all markets, there is a Gartner study that shows that it is a few billion in size. The target addressable market in the EU is valued at around CHF 2 billion. However, when we look at the potential that lies in truly making paper contracts a thing of the past, this number is conservative. If you extrapolate from the Nordic countries to the entire EU, you are looking at a market of CHF 2 trillion. This is what we are after.

What are your key achievements to date?
I am most proud of our technical achievements. With a tiny team, we went from a website where you could upload an image of your ID document to a high-tech company that works on the bleeding edge of artificial intelligence. At the same time, we gained very reputable clients in the Swiss market and have proof that we are competitive.

What is one thing not many people know about you?
I am a rock climber. I love the physical aspect and overcoming one's fear.

What is your favorite podcast and why?
The Swiss news podcast Echo der Zeit. I try to stay away from clickbait news and their in-depth reporting is great. 

What is your favorite book and why?
The Steve Jobs biography. It brilliantly illustrates how random events, personal drive, and capability combine into an unbelievable story.

What is the most challenging aspect of being a founder?
The ups and downs of startup life. One day you rule the world, and nobody can beat you, the other day the abyss is right in front of you.

What is the most rewarding aspect of being a founder?
Success is pretty nice. Closing a deal. Closing a round. Reaching a milestone.

What is the most important lesson you have learned as a founder?
Sometimes work is super intense. Knowing that it’s just work and letting go sometimes is extremely important.

The Swiss National Startup Team's roadshow in London is organized by Venturelab in partnership with Swissnex and supported by EPFL, ETH Zürich, and Walder Wyss.