Swiss ICMIF member, the Vaudoise Insurance Group, is investing in the scale-up company NewCo, which assists entrepreneurs in the various stages of creating an online business. NewCo is already a leader in the field of LegalTech in French-speaking Switzerland and it wishes to expand across other parts of Switzerland, including German-speaking regions.
Founded in 2020 and based in Lausanne, the scale-up NewCo offers digital solutions to accompany entrepreneurs through the various stages of setting up their company. From receiving the initial application to the registration of the company at the Trade Register and the legalisation of signatures, NewCo says it offers a simple and fast digital solution and has already carried out more than 2,500 company creations and/or modifications to date.
To support NewCo’s future growth, the Vaudoise Insurance Group has taken a 20% stake in the company’s capital.
Strengthening the SME ecosystem
“This investment is in line with our desire to strengthen our company’s ecosystem of SMEs,” says Stefan Schürmann, Head of Corporate Development and M&A at the Vaudoise Group. “This way, our distribution network benefits from access to newly created companies and our SME clientele benefits from a digital solution around the creation and modification of companies.”
Flamur Ademi, CEO of NewCo said: “Our objective is to democratise entrepreneurship. The Vaudoise Group’s investment will enable us to consolidate our leading position in French-speaking Switzerland and to continue our development in German-speaking Switzerland.”
Supporting local entrepreneurs
In December 2022, Vaudoise Insurance Group was a partner in the “Ready? Let’s go, Pitch!” competition, organised by GENILEM, a non-profit association which help entrepreneurs from the cantons of Vaud and Geneva in Switzerland to create innovative and sustainable businesses in all sectors of activity. The final of the competition took place on 1 December 2022 in Geneva. Start-up company Genius Loci was the lucky winner of the prize worth CHF 30,000. It will be supported for one year by Vaudoise with targeted mentoring and the sharing of knowledge and know-how in order to help it to develop its business.
Genius Loci, Latin for “spirit of place”, aims to help restore and revalue often forgotten local heritage and special places thanks to a system of connected plaques and the participation of citizens who want to share information on places they know and love with other people. For the next year, the young Vaud company will benefit from strategic and operational coaching offered by GENILEM as well as specific mentoring by experts from Vaudoise Assurances. The start-up company will be able to take advantage of this year to strengthen its positioning and benefit from targeted support in order to accelerate its development on the market. “This approach is in line with our desire to support the entrepreneurial vigour of an entire region,” says Cédric Jayet, general agent at Vaudoise.
