Jens Schulte
Head of Corporate Venturing

Venture capital is risk capital. We therefore examine our investments extremely carefully.

Corporate venturing

PostFinance invests in the future

PostFinance invests in start-ups to further expand its expertise. Jens Schulte, Head of Corporate Venturing, explains how this came about and the plans PostFinance intends to pursue in the future.

Jens Schulte, what does corporate venturing mean for PostFinance?

Corporate venturing means financial equity investment in younger, innovative growth companies – start-ups with a correspondingly high risk potential.

Why does PostFinance invest in these start-ups?

PostFinance currently generates around two thirds of its income from the interest differential business. In the current market environment with low and in some cases negative interest rates, it is essential for us to tap into new sources of income that do not depend on interest rate levels. With its investments and partnerships, PostFinance also establishes a strong and attractive position in the market.

What are PostFinance’s criteria for choosing suitable companies?

Our corporate venturing commitments must fit into our overall strategy. We do of course look into whether and how a potential investment complements our product and service portfolio, and we pay particular attention to aspects such as business model, market, product image, team and technology.

What is crowdlending, and how does the Lendico joint venture fit into the strategy?

Crowdlending is when multiple investors make money available to a borrower in return for interest income. Working with Lendico, we provide Swiss SMEs with a modern alternative to traditional bank financing.

And why is PostFinance investing in moneymeets?

This is a start-up that creates complete transparency across banking and insurance services, providing a simple overview in a market noted for its lack of transparency. And regardless of which bank or insurance company you are with. PostFinance benefits from the experience that moneymeets has in areas such as sales, the technology used or the customer approach.

With the Finform joint venture, PostFinance is trying to control the mounting deluge of forms. How does it work?

Finform automatically reviews the details provided by customers who, for example, conclude contracts online or want to open their account from their PC. The application, the experts and the high level of automation enable savings of over 30 percent of previous process costs.

Around 2.8 million debt collection proceedings are initiated each year in Switzerland. How does the start-up tilbago make this easier?

Until now, creditors mainly processed their debt collection proceedings manually. With tilbago, debt collection proceedings are fast, inexpensive and secure. PostFinance focuses investments on know-how and new technologies in order to provide its customers with even better and even simpler services.

Will PostFinance be investing in other companies?

We will be examining further investments in other companies in Switzerland and abroad. It is important to ensure that they are a good match for us. We therefore scrutinize potential companies intensely and choose them only if they are able to win us over.

Lendico

A crowdlending platform for corporate loans that brings borrowers and investors into direct contact.

moneymeets

A marketplace for private customers who are interested in improving their own finances through financial investments, securities and insurance companies.

Finform

Will reshape the industrialization of banking processes, helping to control the mounting deluge of forms.

tilbago

Offers software of the same name for fast and cost-efficient processing of debt collection proceedings.