Why I have joined i5invest

Helping Swiss tech ventures grow

During my last 12 years I have enjoyed working with technology-driven companies at different stages, from seed to expansion stage up to established companies with their transformation needs. With my focus being on growth issues from both a strategic and financial perspective I have realized certain patterns of challenges and how well entrepreneurs deal with them. From this I gained the belief that good entrepreneurs have the capabilities to tackle these challenges on their own as they are continuously learning the know-how doing so along their journey. On the same side I believe that trusted partners can substantially accelerate this learning curve through sharing their experiences and network to empower entrepreneurs.

After my time as an investor at a European venture capital fund I have strived the last few years as an entrepreneur and #StrategicCFO to enable entrepreneurs to achieve their mission. During this time international opportunities and strategic partnerships have increasingly become a priority on the growth agenda of Swiss tech companies. As such I was looking at ways to extend my scope to not only provide further impactful support and advice, but especially to implement it at scale.

Entering i5invest… (please scroll down)

At this background I am thrilled to have joined the international Tech Corporate Development firm i5invest as Partner. Having known its founder and chairman, Austrian serial entrepreneur Markus Wagner, for around 9 years we both share the same understanding that nowadays ventures need to embrace global opportunities early on in order to gain visibility in their ecosystems — to receive growth funding, to establish strategic partnerships with international players and to open up potential exit possibilities. Together with Herwig Springer and his team at i5invest, Markus has consequently transformed i5invest from a renown European incubator to a multi-faceted business and corporate development firm with a local footprint in the US and Europe.

The unique setup and focus on business development is what combines from my entrepreneurial perspective the “best of breed” of a trusted partner:

• Operational experience on international scale: As a group of serial entrepreneurs and investors we know first-hand what it needs to grow tech companies from inception to internationally successful exits. Providing this strategic know-how in an actionable way together with our support infrastructure and a strong focus on the US market effectively help ventures to achieve just this.
• Deep sector know-how and active network: We remain a high profile in our focus sectors due to our ongoing business and corporate development work. With this network to executives and investors, we anticipate emerging trends in the specific ecosystems early on and can assure finding the right strategic partners to benefit from these.
• M&A execution power: Last, but not least we know how to execute these relationships professionally from numerous cross-border transactions. Here, our deal process aims to create maximum value for long-term partnerships while reducing disruptions of the operating business.

Especially I like that our approach allows to add value to tech companies at different stages. Thus, companies can decide when and how they tap into our experience, network and execution power. Nevertheless, successful exits most often are only the result from enduring business development efforts with a steady market presence.

For this journey with ambitious entrepreneurs in Switzerland I am excited to roll up my sleeves to actively support them together with i5invest.

Feel free to reach out to me under s.eppert@i5invest.com if you want to discuss closer how we can accelerate your company’s international growth.