Page 17 - ASSET MANAGER 9 (EN)

ASSET MANAGER • NO. 9/2018
IFZ STUDY • 17
The average size of companies, measured both in terms of the number of full-time employees and capitalisation, has increased compared with the previous year (see Figure 3). "The industry has not only matured, it is also per- ceived as more mature: The hype has become reality," says Anken- brand.
Customer acquisition as
the greatest challenge
Despite growth, Swiss FinTech companies see themselves con- fronted with challenges according to the questions asked. The dif- ficulty of finding new customers seems to represent the biggest obstacle to further growth in the sector. On the other hand, access to external funding is not very dif- ficult. This is also confirmed by the significant increase in venture capital investment volume.
Further growth expected
"2017 was another successful
year for the Swiss FinTech mar-
ket," says Thomas Ankenbrand.
"We expect this trend to continue in 2018." These included even higher corporate values, additional jobs in the indus- try and the strengthening of certain FinTech products. In addition, the entire financial sector seems to benefit from this growth and the associated technological innovations.
IFZ FinTech Study 2018
The latest "IFZ FinTech Study 2018" by the Lucerne Uni- versity of Applied Sciences and Arts provides a compre- hensive overview of the Swiss FinTech sector.
The first part of the study describes FinTech's ecosystem: On the one hand, the political, legal, economic, social and technological environment is discussed, on the other hand, evaluations of the business models of the 220 Swiss Fin- Tech companies are presented.
In the second part of the study, 108 Swiss companies that participated in the study are presented in more detail. The overviews include information on target markets, sales channels and earnings models as well as various company key figures.
Figure 1: Venture capital and ICO volume in the Swiss FinTech sector
Figure 2: Number of FinTech companies by segment
Figure 3: Employees per company 2015 – 2017
The entire 140-page study can be ordered at ifz@hslu.ch
Source: Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts