No, Verve Ventures is not a fund. Traditional venture capital funds are usually aimed at institutional investors and are accessible only through very large investments. These funds have a time horizon of 7 to 10 years after which they (hopefully) pay back the sum invested and a return on top. The responsibility to source attractive startups and the decision in which companies to invest lies solely with the fund manager, leaving just a very passive role to the investors. With the Verve Ventures model, we do the heavy lifting of selecting companies and structuring financing rounds. However, it is always the private and institutional investors that decide on a case by case basis if they want to invest in a given startup or not. This allows building a startup portfolio over time that is professionally sourced but nonetheless corresponds to each investor’s interest and risk appetite. From an entrepreneur’s point of view, Verve Ventures acts like a fund, pooling the individual investors.

No, Verve Ventures has its own dedicated team of experienced investment professionals that have already managed more than 150 financing rounds. From screening thousands of companies each year to conducting in-depth due diligence for the top 1-2%, they spend hundreds of hours on a single case. This is then followed by weeks of negotiations to structure a financing round before Verve Ventures present it to our investor base. Business angel clubs share the goal of Verve Ventures to make startup investments accessible to private individuals. However they have a different setup and follow a different investment processes. Business angels organize themselves to share the burden of the due diligence among the different members that are interested in a specific case. They rely on the experience, sector knowledge and initiative of their members. As a result, business angel clubs usually focus on a specific sector such as software or life sciences and have a limited geographical reach. In contrast to that, Verve Ventures is able to offer access to a steady flow of carefully chosen investment opportunities not just from one place, but from all over Europe and not just from one industry, but several. This suits investors that want to build a diversified portfolio. Verve Ventures also often joins investment rounds that are otherwise only open to institutional investors and can thus offer these competitive investment opportunities to private investors, something a business angel club cannot do.

No. Verve Ventures isn’t a platform where any entrepreneur can look for investors without going through a quality check. Our investment team screens thousands of startups each year and selects only a few of them that meet high-quality criteria such as scientific excellence, a scalable business model and big target markets. These startups are then presented on our platform once a financing round has been structured and the startup also has commitments from other investors. Unlike most crowdfunding platforms, Verve Ventures only serves qualified investors.

Verve Ventures was founded in 2010 by Steffen Wagner and Lukas Weber with the goal of making investments in startups easier and more transparent. The company Verve Capital Partners (VCP), which runs Verve Ventures, is backed by business angels and Switzerland’s third-largest bank, Zürcher Kantonalbank.

From a geographical point of view, Verve Ventures is open to investors no matter where they reside, except US persons. But startup investing is not for everyone, because of the elevated financial risks. To join Verve Ventures, you have to go through an accreditation process. We require that people be “qualified investors” according to the laws of their home country. For Swiss investors, this means net assets of more than CHF 2 million or assets of more than CHF 0.5 million and financial experience or knowledge necessary to understand the risks associated with investments in illiquid asset classes such as venture capital.

Venture capital has historically shown attractive returns and is a way to diversify away from the public stock market. It is no longer only a domain for the super-wealthy. Through players like Verve Ventures, startup investments are becoming more accessible to a broader base of investors. But there are important non-financial rewards for investing in startups as well. It fosters innovation, helps young entrepreneurs get off the ground and creates jobs. And by following the startup ecosystem closely, investors stay informed about the latest technological achievements and connect to a strong network of people interested in innovation.

The main differences concern liquidity and risk level. Public equity markets are, in general, liquid markets, which means that you can fairly easily buy stocks today and sell them tomorrow. Investing in startups means that you cannot easily sell your shares and usually remain invested for several years until an exit (when a startup is bought or goes public). Early-stage startups present an elevated risk of failure, which means a complete write-off from an investor’s perspective. Therefore, it is crucial that investors build up a diversified portfolio of various startups. For those that want to be more cautious, Verve Ventures also proposes investment opportunities in later-stage companies that already have significant sales. Investing in any startup carries a very real risk of total loss. Prudence commands that such investments should represent a small part of an individual investment portfolio.

Accredited investors get an overview of which startups are fundraising at any given time. They get access to executive summaries about the startups and plenty of additional documents if they want to dig deeper.
Verve Ventures’ investment process has three different steps. First you indicate your interest, then you commit to invest, and finally you sign the investment contracts. This step-by-step approach provides clarity and predictability of financing rounds to investors and startups. If you want to invest, you start by indicating the amount you want to invest. The minimum per investment ticket usually is 10’000 EUR/CHF. As a next step you gain access to further documentation such as the financial projections, the business plan, and the term sheet. Once you come to the conclusion that you want to invest, you commit to an investment. We then send you a link to generate the final contracts and notify you regarding the details of the fund transfer.

No, you’re not. Indicating your interest gives you access to financial data of the company and you’re invited to meet the founders at our investor meeting. You should, however, only indicate an interest to invest if you’re fairly convinced of a startup.

Unlike the final investment contracts, a commitment isn’t legally binding. You should only commit if you have made up your mind and are convinced that you will invest. We’ll reserve a spot for you in the financing round and keep you updated about the next steps.

For each investment opportunity we present, we also organize an investor webinar with the founders. You’ll get to hear the entrepreneurs pitch and ask them questions. For those who cannot join the investor webinar, we provide a video recording of the meeting.

Investors can participate from the day a startup is presented on the platform. We’ll provide a rough estimate by when the final documents have to be signed at the latest. The time frame depends on several factors, including the co-investors in the round. It usually varies between 4 and 8 weeks, which means that you have sufficient time to come to a decision. Once a round is almost full, we inform interested investors that they need to commit to an investment to reserve a spot in the round. Once the round is full, we open a waiting list and check with the company if they are willing to accept additional capital. As a general rule, we allocate tranches to investors on the waiting list on a first-come-first-serve basis.

You can only see the financials after indicating your interest (big red button “I’m interested). The startup will approve your interest within 24 hours and you will gain access to the financials under the Details tab on our platform.

The startups in our portfolio send us regular business updates on a quarterly or monthly basis. We distribute these to our investors.

The most valuable way of helping your startups is by activating your professional network. If you know potential customers or partners, make an introduction. Many startups will also share further ways to help in their reports.

Generally, startup investments are long-term and your investments can take several years to pay-off. Swiss startups take 7.5 years on average until an exit.

Not from a tax perspective. Use the official exchange rates to convert the value of your holdings into the currency of your tax statement as you would do for other financial assets.

The practitioner method that takes earnings into account usually yields a small value for a startup that is not profitable yet. Often, the assets that these companies have are not significant either. The value of a startup in a financing round is based on the earnings potential in the future, not on the current assets or actual earnings. Therefore, the difference between the invested volume and the tax valuation is not an exception but is usually the rule. If the startup is successful and profitable in the future, the tax valuation will rise.

The valuations are not updated every year for every startup in Switzerland. It is completely fine to use an older valuation until a new one is published.

No.

Enable pop-ups in your browser and try again. If the problem persists, please reach out to us.

Taxable amounts of convertible loans correspond to their amounts and are displayed as such. There are no tax-related documents for outstanding convertible loans.

It means that you have already transferred your investment amount, but the entire transaction is still in progress. It can take several weeks before all the formalities are completed so we will publish a complete overview of that transaction in your portfolio once everything has been settled.

We strive to provide our clients with best-in-class experience. We have built a new upgraded system and moved our tax-related data to it. Here is what has changed:

• Company Name: We show complete legal names (not the marketing ones) and the countries of registration of each startup that you have invested in, as per the entries in the respective commercial registers.
  Transactions: We now show transactions in which you acquired your holdings and their dates.
• Currency: Taxable amounts of your holdings are displayed in the nominal currency (CHF/EUR/USD/GBP) of the given company (shares) or your investments (loans and payments). Holdings in any other currency are converted into CHF based on the FX rate as of the end of the given tax year.
• Security Class: Each security type (common and preferred shares, loans, payments) of the same company may have different tax valuations. Those are listed separately per security type.
• Loans: Taxable amounts of convertible loans correspond to their amounts and are displayed as such. There are no tax-related documents for outstanding convertible loans.

General remarks
Tax valuations are updated on a rolling basis. Taxable amounts are indicative only; your tax authorities may use their own methods of assessing the value of your holdings. Verve Ventures always recommends considering obtaining relevant and specific professional advice from a qualified tax adviser. Verve Ventures and/or any manager of the products Verve Ventures offers do not guarantee and are not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information in this report.

This is how our private investors can get access to professional financing rounds even if they do only small investments. From a startup perspective, it would be very cumbersome to handle a large number of small investors. Our fiduciary acts as the single point of contact for the startup, even if there are dozens of investors that have invested.

The fiduciary holds the investments in your name and is listed as a shareholder on the startup’s share register. You are, however, the beneficial owner and will be declared as such to the startup if requested by the startup. As a beneficial owner, you have the right to proceeds of an exit if the startup is successful and sold, as well as eventual dividends, liquidation proceeds or other claims relating to the investment. This means that you have the same potential economic upside but also the same economic risks as other investors. As a fiduciary investor, your administrative burden related to startup investments is also reduced, as you do not participate or vote in annual general meetings. However, the fiduciary will inform you of the planned voting items and you can express your feedback online ahead of time when we share the agenda of the general meeting.

It’s important to note that investing via the fiduciary is a key reason that Verve Ventures can offer some of the most competitive startup investment rounds in Europe. Especially in later-stage startups, we are often the only investor that allows private investors to participate in addition to large institutional investors, and the only one who accepts investments usually starting at CHF/EUR 10’000 per round. This is only possible because we have refined the fiduciary setup so it can act as a singular structure towards the startup and allows the startup to keep administration efforts low, while still giving investors information about the startup’s progress and full participation in any economic success.

Verve Investment Syndicates LLC (VIS) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Verve Capital Partners (VCP), the Swiss company that runs Verve Ventures. The fiduciary is governed by Swiss law and subject to financial regulation as well as independent audits. VIS is a financial intermediary within the meaning of article 2 of the Federal Act on Combating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (AMLA) and is supervised by VQF, the largest Swiss Financial Services Standards Association.

No. The fiduciary cannot sell the shares or give them to someone else, it has to hold them in your name and for your benefit until an exit happens and then distribute the exit proceeds back to you.

Legally, you are not a shareholder, the fiduciary is. Your proof that you have the right to the proceeds from an exit is the countersigned investment instruction notice that you and the fiduciary will sign for each investment.

Verve Capital Partners (the company that operates Verve Ventures) and Verve Investment Syndicates (the fiduciary) are two separate legal entities and the bankruptcy of one entity does not affect the other. The fiduciary is also separately funded from a part of your transaction fees to ensure its viability over the course of your investment. Should anything happen to the fiduciary itself, the holdings can be transferred to a new fiduciary.

The fiduciary will share all official reports and updates from the startup with you as a fiduciary investor.

Investments in startups are long-term and illiquid investments. You should be very well aware before investing in startups that there is no organized market for startup shares and that you cannot easily sell them at your discretion as the sale can also be restricted by a shareholders’ agreement. In the large majority of cases, you will not be able to sell your shares in a startup before it exits.

The payments you make to invest in startups via the fiduciary are made to accounts at Zürcher Kantonalbank, Switzerland’s third-largest bank.

We will ask about the source of your funds and verify your identity as the ultimate beneficial owner of the investment – the same questions a bank asks you before you can open an account. This is necessary because of financial regulations and more specifically the Swiss Anti-Money Laundering Act (GWG/AMLA). This information is kept confidential.

The data is handled by Verve Ventures’ operations and compliance team as well as Zürcher Kantonalbank. If you decide to identify yourself online or sign documents digitally, the fiduciary works with a Swiss-regulated identification provider that will conduct the video identification with you. If required by law, the fiduciary will also share information with tax authorities and the startup companies you invest in.

We are looking to partner with passionate and resilient entrepreneurs dedicated to building disruptive, technology-driven companies that have the potential to return multiple times the invested capital. If this is your ambition, Verve Ventures might be be the right partner.

We don’t charge startups any fees.

Private investors are pooled in a SPV and appear as a single entry on your cap table.

We invest in early stage as well as growth stage rounds. A pitch deck or idea without validation is not sufficient. The right timing for a funding round can vary depending on the industry or other factors but generally being able to show market traction, proof of technology and a complete and well-functioning core team are decisive factors.

Early. We like to connect with you before discussing a potential participation. There is a good chance we can already help you early on with relevant introductions and finding key people for your team. To get started, fill out our screening questionnaire.