After two years of decline, the Swiss fintech market is rebounding, pushed by bigger and extra mature fintech firms seeking to scale their operations.
A brand new report by PwC reveals that Swiss fintech exercise is returning to pre-2022 ranges, with robust Q1 2025 numbers indicating a pattern reversal.
In Q1 2025, Swiss fintech firms secured a complete of US$156.6 million in fairness funding, virtually reaching the full-year 2024 stage of US$197.8 million, and permitting for a optimistic outlook for this yr. This quantity was secured by simply eight transactions, indicating that rounds have been considerably bigger in measurement throughout the first a part of 2025 and largely concerned extra established fintech firms.
Swiss fintechs embrace B2B fashions
The report shares outcomes of an trade survey of roughly 50 of essentially the most important fintech firms within the Swiss fintech sector.
This examine reveals that in Switzerland, business-to-business (B2B) fintech is turning into the dominant mannequin, pushed by rising demand from companies for tailor-made monetary options. Not like business-to-consumer (B2C) fashions, which frequently depend on smaller revenue margins and face increased buyer acquisition prices, B2B fintech firms safe extra worthwhile, long-term partnerships.
Moreover, the Swiss B2C fintech sector, which incorporates digital wallets, fee apps and neobanks, has turn out to be extremely aggressive and saturated, additional prompting new entrants to shift their focus to B2B alternatives.
Amongst surveyed companies, 52% focus solely on company shoppers, whereas 36% serve each companies and shoppers, reflecting B2B’s growing dominance.
Strategic partnerships
No matter their most popular buyer kind, the examine additionally exhibits that fintech firms place important emphasis on strategic partnerships. These play a vital function in increasing the client base by enhancing model visibility and credibility by companions’ networks and reputations.
Referral packages and word-of-mouth advertising are additionally extremely efficient, with 57% of fintech firms recognizing their worth. These incentivize current clients to refer new ones, permitting fintech firms to capitalize on belief and private suggestions.
Much less frequent approaches embody digital advertising campaigns (27%), content material advertising and thought management (24%), and focused promoting and viewers segmentation (20%).
Growth centered on EMEA and Asia
The examine reveals that Swiss fintech firms largely serve the home market, and the broader European continent. Presently, 92% of those fintech firms serve shoppers in Switzerland, and 66% within the broader Europe, the Center East and Africa (EMEA) area.
To extend their consumer base and market share, three quarters of the Swiss fintech firms surveyed are planning to increase, with most popular areas being EMEA (67%) and Asia (56%). Solely a minority purpose to increase to the Americas (39%).
Causes for decrease urge for food for American markets embody the regulatory setting within the US, which requires substantial assets and compliance experience. Furthermore, interviews with fintech representatives revealed that the necessity to disclose confidential consumer information to US authorities discourages them from getting into the market.
The US fintech market can be intensely aggressive, with US-based firms often having fun with entry to intensive funding, giving them a substantial benefit over new entrants from Europe. In consequence, efficiently getting into the US market from Europe is difficult and deters many European gamers.
In distinction, progress alternatives in Asia seem extra interesting. Nations like China and India provide huge potential as a result of their massive, underbanked populations and speedy adoption of digital monetary providers. Moreover, favorable regulatory environments and financial dynamism in Asia current extra profitable alternatives for Swiss fintech firms to increase their attain and affect.
Lastly, the motivations for increasing to EMEA relate to comfort, and embody geographic proximity, regulatory similarities, and shared cultural and linguistic ties.
Funding stays a precedence
For the reason that survey pattern centered on extra mature fintech firms within the progress or enlargement stage, a majority of respondents (67%) indicated on the lookout for extra funding.
For 57% of those fintech firms, enterprise capital (VC) funds and personal fairness (PE) funds signify the popular funding supply. Company ventures, usually performing as strategic traders, signify one other engaging funding supply favored by 18% of contributors.
Based on 74% of the fintech representatives surveyed, one of the best ways to draw and retain these traders is a robust worth proposition mixed with a aggressive benefit. 70% additionally imagine that demonstrated monetary efficiency and progress potential are important when searching for monetary assist.
Among the many 33% of surveyed fintech firms which might be at the moment not searching for investor assist, some have already obtained funding lately, whereas others choose to pursue regular progress by reinvesting their very own earnings to stop share dilution. Furthermore, some firms don’t require additional funding because of the restricted scalability of their Swiss market-specific enterprise mannequin. That is the case, for instance, of fintech firms providing options that relate to the Swiss pension system.
These findings recommend promising funding alternatives on the horizon as quite a few Swiss fintech firms search PE and VC for enlargement.
Findings from PwC’s Swiss fintech survey align with this yr’s IFZ Fintech Research by the Institute of Monetary Providers Zug (IFZ), which discovered that the Swiss fintech sector is reaching some extent of saturation, prompting firms to shift their focus in the direction of worldwide enlargement and B2B alternatives.
Featured picture: Edited by Fintech Information Switzerland, primarily based on picture by thanyakij-12 by way of Freepik
