THE OLD CONTINENT STRIKES BACK 25 Companies Under the Microscope
N°3 JULY 2021 WWW.SWISSQUOTE.COM CHF 9.-
WWW.SWISSQUOTE.COM FINANCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNPACKED
AUTOMOTIVE Chinese companies descend on Europe
FLAVOURS Givaudan goes green
STOCK EXCHANGE All about tickers
DOSSIER TECH THE OLD CONTINENT STRIKES BACK 25 companies under the microscope
ASML ZALANDO DARKTRACE BLUE PRISM ALLEGRO SPOTIFY ADYEN SWISSQUOTE N°3 JULY 2021 TECH: THE OLD CONTINENT STRIKES BACK SWISSQUOTE N°3 JULY COLLECTION Fifty Fathoms
The Fifty Fathoms collection embodies Blancpain’s passion for the underwater universe that was originally expressed in 1953 with the creation of the first modern diver’s watch.
With its almost 70-year legacy of the Fifty Fathoms, the Brand has woven close ties with explorers, photographers, scientists, and environmentalists. With that affinity has come a determination to support important activities dedicated to ocean exploration and conservation.
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Wake-up call
By Marc Bürki, CEO of Swissquote
t wasn’t that long ago. Until 2010, tories to develop the technologies the Finnish firm Nokia reigned that will dominate our future lives. Isupreme on the global cell phone market. And now? A mere decade The famous Times Higher Education later, Europe is unable to build a World University Rankings 2021 state-of-the-art smartphone from placed seven European universities scratch. It can’t produce any of the in the world’s top 20 for computer most powerful electronic chips, such science. Two of these institutions as the A14 processor in the iPhone are Swiss: ETH Zurich (4th) and EPFL 12, which is manufactured by the (17th). In an interview featured in foundries of Taiwanese giant TSMC. this issue, Alexandre Pauchard, p. 42 And most of the applications we all CEO of CSEM, explains how these use are made by US companies. excellent skills entitle us to be optimistic, to dream of a Europe For the Old Continent, never more that is less dependent on foreign befitting in name, this realisa- solutions for its digital services. tion is distressing. Nine out of the world’s 10 biggest companies To achieve that, we will need to fur- are technology firms, and none ther improve access to financing for of them are European. Faced with the highest potential startups. And US and Asian behemoths, is the why not set up a European Nasdaq, digital war a foregone conclu- where European tech companies sion? Not so fast... The pandemic can raise the hundreds of millions has awakened European govern- of dollars they need to grow and ments to their cumulative lag. build world-class winners, like Nokia with cell phones? The failed pan- p. 34 As our special report shows, Europe European electronic stock exchange is already home to some fantastic Easdaq in the 1990s should not deter success stories, such as the Swedish us. Times have changed, and digital audio streaming platform Spotify or technology is now what drives the the relatively unknown Dutch giant entire economy. For European tech, ASML. But the Old Continent espe- this can serve as a wake-up call. cially boasts top-notch universities, researchers and research labora- Enjoy!
BIG BANG INTEGRAL
Boîtier avec bracelet intégré en titane. Mouvement GENÈVE • LUZERN • ZURICH • ZERMATT chronographe UNICO manufacture. 3
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PUBLISHER Swissquote 34 Chemin de la Crétaux 33 1196 Gland – Switzerland DOSSIER T. +41 44 825 88 88 www.swissquote.com [email protected]
Manager DIGITAL Brigitta Cooper SCANS EDITORIAL AWAKENING Editor-in-chief Ludovic Chappex Associate editor IN THE OLD Bertrand Beauté E-COMMERCE 60 Design director Natalie Bindelli and Caroline Fischer CONTINENT CANA atelier graphique Route de Jussy 29 – 1226 Thônex www.ateliercana.ch 8 74 Editorial staff Bertrand Beauté, Stanislas Cavalier, AUTOMOTIVE Ludovic Chappex, Gérard Duclos, Salomé Kiner, Martin Longet, Angélique Mounier-Kuhn, Grégoire Nicolet, Gaëlle Sinnassamy, Julie Zaugg Layout Natalie Bindelli, Caroline Fischer, Romain Guerini (CANA atelier graphique)
Cover CANA atelier graphique
Photography AFP, Getty images, Newscom, iStock, 22 Reuters, Keystone TRAVEL Editing (English version) Ose Ayewoh Translation Acolad
CONTENTS PRINTING, BINDING AND DISTRIBUTION Stämpfli Ltd. Wölflistrasse 1 – 3001 Bern 3. EDITORIAL 22. AUTOMOTIVE 34. DOSSIER: DIGITAL AWAKENING 60. E-COMMERCE 72. AUTO www.staempfli.com by Marc Bürki Chinese companies IN THE OLD CONTINENT Grab’s local wins Electrical setbacks set up in Europe for VW’s ID.4 ADVERTISING Infoplus AG 8. SCANS 39. Is the Union 46. Can deep tech 66. STOCK EXCHANGE Traubenweg 51, CH-8700 Küsnacht Economic 28. CHRYPTO too soft? companies All about 74. TRAVEL [email protected] survey CHRONICLES rescue Europe? tickers César Manrique’s WEMF Bitcoin in eco- 40. Infographic: Lanzarote REMP 2020: 53,555 Ex. Print run: 60,000 ex. 18. TRENDS friendly clothes The United States, 50. 25 high-potential 70. SWISSQUOTE Personality, by far the number 1 European startups A successful launch 80. TRIED AND TESTED country, 30. PORTRAIT for Yuh Mining innovation Givaudan goes 42. Interview cryptocurrency green with Alexandre Pauchard, CEO of ABONNEMENTSUBSCRIPTION 20. ANALYSIS CHF 40.-40 FOR pour 6 6ISSUES numéros ETFs, CSEM www.swissquote.ch/magazine/f/www.swissquote.ch/magazine the success story PAUL LAKATOS/NEWSCOM / ISTOCK SMART CITY FLICKR LAKATOS/NEWSCOM PAUL
4 5 Polestar 1 — A collector’s item
polestar.com
411618_400x260_CO39_e_Polestar_1_Item_Swissquote_Mag.indd 2 02.06.21 09:06 411618_400x260_CO39_e_Polestar_1_Item_Swissquote_Mag.indd 3 02.06.21 09:06 SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021 SCANS SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021
certification RANKING THE LUXURY GOODS INDUSTRY SCANS EMBRACES BLOCKCHAIN ANNUAL SPENDING ON APPS (average per active iPhones in the United States, xxxxxxxx including in-app purchases)
reinsurance 2015 $33 SWISS RE SAVES THE DAY... AND THEN SOME 2016 $47 (up 42%)
The reinsurance sector remained profitable in 2020 despite 2017 $58 (up 23%) the pandemic, and the situation is expected to improve further in 2021. The performance of Swiss Re or Belgian Ageas in the 2018 $79 (up 36%) first quarter of 2021 highlights this trend. The Swiss rein- 2019 $100 (up 27%) surer has recorded a net profit of 333 million Swiss francs, compared with a loss of 225 million Swiss francs for the 2020 $138 (up 38%) same period in 2020. Meanwhile, the Belgian firm announced +30% profits of €296 million, but down 34% compared to the previous year. With the exception of the French insurer SCOR, the other Increase in the Source: SensorTower European giants Hannover Re and Munich Re also delivered good amount spent on performances for the beginning of this year. video games in the United States in the COUNTRIES WITH THE MOST SREN AGS SCR HNR1 MUV2 COFFRINI / AFP FABRICE BILLIONAIRES IN 2021 first quarter of 2021, compared with the The advantages of traceability and is now waltzing into the luxury industry same period in 2020. certification offered by blockchain through the front door with the launch of 1. UNITED STATES technology are gradually coming into a consortium around the Geneva-based 724 the conversation over the noise of pure Aura blockchain. Led by the three rivals 2. CHINA speculation related to cryptocurrencies. LVMH, Prada and Richemont, the consor- 698 Traceability projects are the hot topic tium plans to develop a common certi- 3. INDIA in food items and other consumables, fication standard for the entire luxury 140 tech such as the milk project in Ireland or the industry that will allow buyers to track WAR IN AUGMENTED REALITY coffee project developed by the Swiss the provenance of and authenticate their 4. GERMANY startup Farmer Connect. The technology purchases. MC 1913 CFR 136 Microsoft will supply the United States 5. RUSSIA Army with 120,000 augmented real- US Army soldiers 117 wearing Microsoft’s ity (AR) headsets, a contract worth AR headsets. $21.9 billion over the next 10 years.
Microsoft’s share price jumped 3% Source: Forbes after the announcement in late March. The headsets feature the tech firm’s HoloLens technology, which delivers EUROPEAN COMPANIES a range of information superimposed WITH THE BIGGEST IPO in the users’ field of view. HoloLens is VALUATIONS mainly sold to businesses: architec- (first quarter 2021) ture firms, hospitals, universities, car 1. ARRIVAL manufacturers, and even the US space (electric vehicles, London) agency, NASA. This change in strategy “In the $13 BN (NASDAQ) is followed by other manufacturers 2. DELIVEROO such as Google and Snapchat, whose future, Swiss (food delivery, London) products (Google Glass and Snapchat $10.4 BN (LSE) Spectacles) are now aimed at business- will become $2.75 bn 3. TRUSTPILOT es rather than individuals. Facebook (online review platform, Copenhagen) is also ramping up its efforts in this smaller” The amount of the $1.5 BN (LSE) market. The social network says that Dieter Vranckx, antitrust fine imposed 4. IMMUNOCORE nearly one-fifth of its employees are new CEO of Swiss, by China on Alibaba, (biotechnology, Abingdon) currently working on virtual reality in an interview with equivalent to 4% of $1.1 BN (NASDAQ) and augmented reality projects. Le Temps newspaper. the company’s revenue MSFT GOOGL SNAP FB in 2019. Source: Crunchbase AFP
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SCANS smart cities A computer TOYOTA CREATES CITY KICKSTARTER generated image OF THE FUTURE of Toyota’s “Woven City” project. At the foot of Mount Fuji in Japan, Toyota has begun construction on the “Woven City”, its connected city presented as a living laboratory of innovation. The 175-hectare site of a former Toyota factory will be the setting for life-size experiments of new technologies in fields such as self-driving, personal mo- bility, robotics and artificial intelligence. The Woven City will eventually be home to more than 2,000 residents, mainly $465 m Toyota engineers but also elderly people How much Amazon and families with children. The smart will invest in the first city project is part of a larger strategy, season of its The Lord which Toyota hopes will help it catch up
of the Rings series in the self-driving segment through its STORY GOAT – a record high. To new subsidiary Woven Planet Holdings. compare, season 8 of The 800 employees of this subsidiary FOREVERPEN Game of Thrones is will soon be joined by the 300 employees reported to have cost from the self-driving unit (“Level 5”) of A MINI-PEN (ALMOST) $240 million. the American ride-hailing platform Lyft, FOR LIFE which Toyota bought for $550 million in late April. Foreverpen is a tiny pen mea 7203 suring just under 2.5 cm that lets you write on any surface and lasts practically forever. The team at the Manchester- based World’s Tiniest says TOYOTA its design was inspired by a tool used in the Renaissance period to draw illuminations on parchments. Made from silver pharma semiconductors composite, the tip creates per- BASEL-BASED ROIVANT SCIENCES EVER THINNER manent, clearly legible strokes TO ENTER INTO A SPAC IBM announced that it has created on paper, plastic or even wood, the first 2-nanometre chip. Until now, but leaves no marks or stains on Roivant Sciences, a biotech company the fingers. Foreverpen is water- operating out of Basel, plans to list on the Vivek Ramaswamy, the record of 3 nm was held by TSMC, founder of Roivant the Taiwan-based world leader in sem- resistant, and the tip can also be Nasdaq in the third quarter via a Special Sciences, at the used to cut tape off packages Purpose Acquisition Company, or SPAC, 2015 Forbes Under iconductors (see Swissquote Magazine 3/2020). IBM says that this new architec- or pry open lids. However, using an option rarely used by Swiss companies. 30 Summit in it in these ways can reduce its It hopes to raise $611 million to reach Philadelphia. “Next year ture could quadruple the battery life of devices currently built with 7 nm chips (or lifespan. Foreverpen is availa- a valuation of $7.3 billion. Founded in ble in three colours (titanium, 2014, the company acquires pharmaceu- there is going offer 45% more performance for the same energy use). But the US firm did not spec- copper, brass) and comes with tical compounds that other companies to be way too a pass-through so that it can be cannot or will not use and develops them ify any dates about when it would launch many vaccines mass production. Meanwhile, TSMC plans attached to a key ring or zipper with a dedicated team. Roivant Sciences and taken anywhere. currently has 12 separate entities that for people on to start production of its 3 nm and 4 nm employ 800 people. The money raised via chips as early as next year, which should the SPAC will go to funding operations the planet” further strengthen its global dominance. through 2024. Stéphane Bancel, Despite the semiconductor shortage, SIOX Moderna CEO, speaking TSMC even forecasts growth of 20% in at a virtual event for vaccine 2021, well above the 16% expected for manufacturing on 23 April. the industry as a whole. IBM 2330 FUNDS RAISED AVAILABILITY £344,396 AUGUST 2021 LISA LAKE / GETTY IMAGES
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SCANS virtual reality OMNIVERSE: NVIDIA’S ULTIMATE SIMULATOR
“We have a couple of years until we catch up to this ANDREAS CAMINADA surging demand 3 MICHELIN STAR CHEF across every A factory simulated in a hyper realistic manner thanks to aspect of the Omniverse technology. business” NVIDIA The US company Nvidia has unveiled a version of Omniverse and has referred Pat Gelsinger, new platform that accurately recreates to the simulation as a “virtual twin” of Intel’s new CEO, real-world environments in 3D. The its factory. The experiments conducted commenting on Omniverse solution is used to create using the simulator have reportedly the global semiconductor simulations that can optimise manu- improved productivity by 30%. And the shortage in an interview facturing processes. For example, the applications don’t stop there: Omni on CBS. software can simulate changes to the verse can also simulate the journey THE ART OF FUSION supply chain at a factory without dis- of an autonomous car to train artificial rupting site operations or performance. intelligence in realistic conditions. German automaker BMW is using a beta NVDA BMW
THE FLOP
BIG BANG UNICO Archegos plummets, others profit BLACK MAGIC The bankruptcy of the Ame Fund was founded in 2017 Boîtier en céramique noire. Mouvement rican hedge fund Archegos by Henry Liang, then 27, who chronographe UNICO manufacture. Capital Management has made was touted by Bloomberg as a headlines as the biggest finan Chinese finance genius. The $69.4 m cial scandal of 2021. Its over performance was undoubtedly exposure to media conglome due to bold bets on two Chinese rate ViacomCBS, whose shares internet platforms (FinVolution The amount that the fell at the end of March, cost it Group and 360 Digitech) but first digital work of art dearly, and several banks lost also against overvalued Chinese sold for at a Christie’s billions. Aside from the many companies, such as the educa auction. The First losers, one Chinese investment tion technology company GSX 5000 Days is a collage fund managed to come out a Techedu, whose share price fell by British artist Mike winner with a 120% gain in the dramatically after Archegos’ Winkelmann, first quarter, thanks in part brokers massively sold off its aka Beeple. to the collapse of Archegos. shares. Seahawk China Dynamic VIAC.O FINV QFIN GOTU
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SCANS
hydrogen
FILL’ER UP WITH H2 CANISTERS
The Segway Apex H2 will run on hydrogen.
$1,981 bn Total amount of military expenditure worldwide in 2020, up 2.6% from 2019 despite
SEGWAY the pandemic, the highest amount since Since its 2015 acquisition by Ninebot, a in the form of changeable and refilla- the end of the Cold War, subsidiary of the Chinese firm Xiaomi, ble hydrogen canisters at a dedicated according to a report Segway has been exploring all areas station, although the battery could also of electric mobility, from motorcycles be charged normally – by plugging it in. from the Stockholm in 2019 to buggy-quads in 2020. Now, Priced at less than €10,000, this futur- International Peace in 2021, the US firm has unveiled the istic motorcycle reaches speeds of 150 Research Institute. APEX H2, the first motorcycle featuring km/h and goes from 0 to 100 km/h in a hydrogen-electric hybrid powertrain. 4 seconds. Production is set to launch in On top of its cyberpunk design, Segway 2023 and pre-orders are already open. has come up with a charging system 689009 1810 Plus de 100’000 clients commerciaux suisses font confiance à Salt Business. Point.
THE IPO
COUPANG, SOUTH KOREA’S AMAZON
South Korea’s e-commerce gi With 24.6% market share and ant Coupang (pronounced “coo- 90% additional revenue in pong”) boasted the largest IPO 2020, Coupang is still the larg “A tough period in the United States for the first est e-commerce site in South quarter of 2021. Its shares rose Korea, and analysts agree that and hard decisions 40% on its first day, rising from its model remains robust. Its lay ahead of us. $35 to close at $49.25, valuing 15,000 delivery drivers and There are no the company at $84.47 billion, more than one hundred logis up from an estimated $9 billion tics centres spread across more miracle quick fixes in 2018. Alas, the euphoria than 30 South Korean cities nor such things as was short-lived, and the stock form infrastructure that will be infallibility” dipped back down to below $35 difficult to replicate for several in mid-May, opening an attrac years. Antonio Horta-Osario, tive investment window. CPNG new chairman of Credit Suisse.
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1158_BPW_2021_400x260_de_fr_en_V4.indd 5-6 08.06.21 08:22 SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021 TRENDS SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021 TRENDS DR
country FRANCE
The country is coming back to life personality In the first quarter of 2021, France’s BELEN GARIJO GDP grew 0.4% compared to the pre- vious quarter, while GDP contracted History being made at Merck in other European countries during the same period (-0.6% for the euro Appointed as CEO of the German zone as a whole). With the lifting of biopharma Merck KGaA in ear- COVID-19 restrictions, the upward Position CEO ly May, Spaniard Belen Garijo is trend is expected to continue in making history. She is the first the second half of the year, and the Age woman to head one of Germany’s OECD even forecasts 5.9% growth 61 30 largest DAX-listed companies. in 2021. Supporting this Garijo studied medicine at the rebound will be the €100 innovation Manufacturer Nationality University of Alcalá de Henares Population billion French stimulus DISNEY’S PROJECT KIWI Disney Spanish in Madrid and then practised 67,400,000 package, of which €40 bil- as a physician in clinical phar- (2020) lion will come from Brus- Get your own Baby Groot Release macology before a career move sels. Of that €40 billion, not disclosed into the pharmaceutical industry in the late 1980s. GDP per capita 37% is to be allocated to Disney’s R&D division has recent- small motors to produce human android robots – Over a period spanning about 20 years, she held man- € 30,480 (2020) fighting climate change ly unveiled an autonomous robot expressions to a tee. The father of remains a long- Price agement positions at different companies: Abbott, and 20% to the digital version of everyone’s favourite this adorable baby is engineer Scott term prospect, not disclosed Rhône-Poulenc, Aventis Pharma and Sanofi Avent- Growth transformation of the dead tree character from the film Christopher LaValley, designer of as Disney engi- is. In 2011, she became COO and then CEO of Merck -8.3% economy (see our report Guardians of the Galaxy, Baby Groot. the biped robot Atlas, which Disney neers still want Serono and in 2015, CEO of Merck Healthcare. In 2020, (2020) on p. 34 to 58). Mean- Although still just a prototype with got from Boston Dynamics. Disney’s to improve Groot’s interactions with she was appointed member of the Merck Group Execu- while, the government is a battery life of 45 minutes, the intentions are not (yet?) to sell the his environment and let him react to tive Board, while still serving on the boards of L’Oréal Main economic planning to introduce a result is incredibly realistic. The robot to the general public, but to unexpected situations, for example, and BBVA. An ardent supporter of Real Madrid, she sectors (2018) set of particularly unpop- robot can dance, box and even stand integrate it into its theme parks. in the presence of children. services (76.1%), is also a mum. Her husband was the first doctor in ular reforms, including on one foot. Its face is packed with Westworld – a park populated by DIS Spain to take unpaid leave to care for their two chil- manufactu- revisions to the pension ring (13.3%), dren, so that she could pursue her career. MRK system and unemploy- construction (6.7%) and agri- ment insurance. And that culture (2.5%) could bring the French back into the streets.
18 19
SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021 ANALYSIS SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021 ANALYSIS THE VIEWPOINT OF SPECIALISTS
FOCUS ETFs, the success story Since first hitting the market three decades ago, Exchange Traded Funds have become more widespread, more diversified and more complex. As they allow investors to diversify their portfolios simply and at a low cost, ETFs remain an incredibly popular option. BY ANGÉLIQUE MOUNIER-KUHN SHUTTERSTOCK
s soon as the regulatory and Vanguard have far outstripped assets under management, ahead of ed based on the market capitali- tors other than the simple weighting intrinsic value, as decisions to buy authorities gave the green it in the United States. On the Euro- Europe (17%) and Asia (13%). The sation of their components, ETFs of securities in an index, and actively or sell an ETF are unrelated to the light, State Street Global pean market, iShares (Blackrock), Swiss stock exchange lists several have gradually ventured into bond managed ETFs, which aim to reduce fundamental characteristics of the AInvestors created a sensation by Xtrackers (DWS) and Lyxor (Société new ETFs every week, adding to the markets, then into commodities and risk or improve performance. securities in which it is invested. launching the first Exchange Traded Générale) – which is about to be 1,500 funds already listed. precious metals markets, disrupting “However, research shows that they Fund (ETF), the SPDR S&P 500 ETF acquired by its competitor Amundi – the way things were done each time. In fact, fund regulations seem to be play a role in price discovery (the Trust (pronounced “spider”) on the hold the top spots. The success of ETFs can also be For example, when physical gold the only thing that can inhibit the im- process of determining the price of American market on 22 January measured by their weighting in port- ETFs emerged about 15 years ago, agination of ETF creators. Could they an asset) and over the long term do 1993. What was novel about this folios. The Boston Federal Reserve investors were given the opportunity possibly lose sight of the very sim- not add noise or instability to the investment fund, which aims to estimates that passive funds (ETFs to enjoy the security of the yellow plicity that built their initial success? market,” says Hassine Konqui. In the replicate the performance of the Why are they so and mutual funds) accounted for 41% metal, without having to worry about Marlene Hassine Konqui, former head corporate bond market, ETF hold- S&P 500, was that it was traded of total assets under management storage issues. These days, ETFs of ETF research at Lyxor, one of Eu- ings even appear to reduce price on the stock market. That sparked popular? Simple: in the United States in March 2020, are sector- or theme-based; some rope’s leading issuers, believes that volatility. Finally, “other studies the passive investing revolution on there is nothing compared with only 14% in 2005 and are based on cryptocurrencies, and widening the selection gives inves- have shown that ETFs do not impact financial markets. It reached Europe not to like about 3% in 1995. In Europe, passive funds a growing number focus on social, tors the advantage of capturing new underlying markets, especially in in the early 2000s, and nothing ETFs held 20% of the market share in 2020, environmental and governance trends. “The development of actively times of crisis, any more than other could stop it. according to Morningstar. (ESG) considerations. managed ETFs is particularly inter- equity market players, namely active esting,” she says, “because it brings funds,” she adds. Three decades later, the original ETF Why are they so popular? Simple: ETFs have also become more com- the best of both worlds, the low cost from the Boston-based investment Few other financial innovations have there is nothing not to like about ETFs. plex. Now we have synthetic ETFs, of ETFs and the outperformance During the last major financial management company remains the experienced a planetary success “They are easy to access, affordable which use derivatives; leveraged potential of active funds.” market crash in February and March most popular in the world, with similar to that of ETFs. The research and transparent. Plus, their invest- ETFs, which replicate a multiple of 2020, when the S&P 500 fell by more more than $360 billion in capital- firm CFRA counted 8,500 ETFs ment universe has expanded consid- an index’s performance; short ETFs, Due to the volumes they generate than a third in less than a month, the isation, roughly equivalent to half worldwide as at the end of February. erably, offering investors a broad se- which replicate the inverse trend of and their flexibility to buy and sell, expert still found that active funds of Switzerland’s gross domestic Many of them are listed on several lection,” says Marlene Hassine Konqui, an index, and so forth. investors, particularly active manag- significantly outperformed their product. Over that period, the SPDR markets to make them more readily expert in portfolio construction and ers, have long been concerned that passive counterparts. That is a good family has grown to include dozens available. Together, they totalled active and passive fund allocation. Recent years have seen the ETFs could accentuate bullish and reason to believe that these two of new funds, enabling State Street nearly $7.74 trillion in 2020, with the emergence of Smart Beta ETFs, bearish market trends. ETFs are also management styles are complemen- to hold on to its position as a top ETF United States representing by far the Initially limited to replicating the an “enhanced” passive management suspected of distorting the price of tary, not contradictory. And each has issuer, even though giants Blackrock largest market with almost 70% of performance of stock indices weight- strategy that takes into account fac- underlying assets away from their its legitimate place in portfolios.
20 21 ANALYSIS SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021 ANALYSIS SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021
FOCUS
Chinese companies set up in Europe
China is steam rolling into the electric car market. Big automakers should be worried. And experts blame decisions handed down by Brussels.
BY LUDOVIC CHAPPEX
Not quite the same spirit, but MG Motors is back, now under the control of the Chinese giant SAIC. The brand’s models, such as the MG EHS hybrid SUV, have received an enthusiastically warm welcome from both the general public and industry media outlets. Vehicles are already his time, the wave is coming. nounced that it exported 230,000 financial position – is the fantas- on sale at dozens of dealerships across France and More than a dozen Chinese MG-stamped models last year. tic reviews these vehicles have 13 other European countries. T electric vehicle brands will received from both the general hit the European market by the end public in Europe and industry media of the year, according to the busi- outlets. A case in point, journal- ness information firm IHS Markit. ists and readers of the specialised five stars, the highest possible developed at home. China is the says Bernard Jullien, former And the new competition has been 34% of French people French automotive journal La Revue rating, in the Euro NCAP crash test, world’s largest manufacturer of director of Gerpisa (Permanent carefully sharpening its arguments. Automobile have named the MG ZS which brings reassuring value for EV batteries. The International Study and Research Group on Forget the reputation of poor qual- say they are ready to their benchmark electric SUV for European customers. And our vari- Energy Agency (IEA) estimates the Automobile Industry and ity that has long plagued Chinese consider a Chinese 2021. And that’s something! The ous studies show that the fact that that 2.58 million electric vehi- Employees). Is that tactic used products. Just as Huawei or Xiaomi vehicle for their editorial team comments on its it’s a Chinese brand is not deterring cles were on Chinese roads in to distort competition? “The con- smartphones have been steadily next purchase website: “It’s not because it’s the anyone from buying it. The value 2019, compared with 0.97 million tent of Chinese electric vehicles moving upmarket to now appeal most modern, or the most sen- for money is the deciding factor.” in Europe and 0.88 million in the has clearly not been designed and to a Western clientele, Chinese sual... no. Its rationality and its United States. Charging infrastruc- produced according to competition cars have made a quantum leap in price-performance ratio made it This analysis was confirmed by ture is also much more developed rules that prevail in Europe,” the the space of a few years. And now In the French business newspa- our winner. Its ultra-competitive the annual barometer study “The in the country than elsewhere, with French economist says. “China they are forcefully attacking the per Les Echos, German analyst price and plethora of features French and the automobile” pub- China home to more than 80% of has made a point of building up a European market. Matthias Schmidt reported that convinced us all.” Compared to lished by the site Aramisauto and the world’s fast charging stations. complete industry, with companies SAIC-MG sold 4,459 electric and European models with compa- the market research firm Kantar, abundantly financed by banks – The most obvious example is hybrid vehicles in Western Europe rable features and components, which asserts that sales price GOVERNMENT BACKING and therefore indirectly by the probably MG Motors. The myth- in the first quarter. A modest figure the MG SUV comes out €5,000 to is the most important criterion Chinese brands largely owe the government.” ical brand, whose heyday in the compared to the 30,500 Teslas €10,000 cheaper. for 65% of people surveyed. More cushy position they currently enjoy to British car industry was post-World that flooded the region over the striking is that 34% of French peo- Beijing’s support and determination. In contrast, the European industry War II, was bought by the Chinese same period, but the onslaught has “It’s a quality product sold at ple say they are ready to consider Electric vehicles have been a recent is a relative newcomer. Old World giant SAIC (Shanghai Automotive only just begun. In 2021, MG plans a very competitive price,” says a Chinese vehicle for their next focus in the Chinese government’s manufacturers have barely begun Industry Corporation) in 2007. Now to open 200 new points of sale in Flavien Neuvy, director of the purchase. industrial strategy. “The electric car their transition to electric vehicles. it has risen from its ashes in the Europe, including 80 dealerships Cetelem Automotive Observatory, is a key objective charted in the Made But ever stricter anti-pollution form of electric vehicles marketed in France, a country serving as a a business intelligence unit of the Positioned to expand, Chinese in China 2025 plan, which aims to standards are already pushing in 14 European countries, but not laboratory and test market. What’s BNP Paribas Group. The expert manufacturers work within an impose certain Chinese technology them to move away from the com- Switzerland. The company an- surprising – in addition to its adds, “The model also achieved ecosystem that is already highly sectors in the global arena,” bustion engine.
22 23 ANALYSIS SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021
The experts we interviewed do into the European market.” These In this fast-changing industry, the not speak kindly of the political criticisms should be taken with Old Continent’s manufacturers will decision-makers and their strat- some perspective, as European have to carve out a way forward. egy. Bernard Jullien: “Brussels’ automakers have indeed long Neuvy concludes: “An electric car decision to heavily promote refused to tackle the ecological takes far fewer people to produce. electric vehicles is like giving transition head on. The first to Thousands of jobs will disappear up to Chinese firms. The bar has overtake them was Tesla, not a at European automobile firms. It’s been set too high with targets Chinese group. Then came the already happening at Volkswagen, that European companies cannot Dieselgate scandal, which sent a which is expected to cut 5,000 meet.” Flavien Neuvy concurs, shock wave through the industry jobs by 2023 in its transition to practically in the same terms: and convinced legislators to take electric vehicles. Has Europe truly “European regulations favour the a harder line (see our September grasped the consequences of its entry of Chinese manufacturers 2019 issue on electric vehicles). choices?”
1 2
3 4 Louer au lieu d’acheter: nouvelle off re Corporate E-Bike POLESTAR / AIWAYS / LYNK & CO / SHUTTERSTOCK / LYNK / AIWAYS POLESTAR
1 2 3 4 Europeans are not completely Freshly arrived in Europe, Lynk & Co, also owned by Geely, Norway, a country fond of cff .ch/corporate-ebikesharing unfamiliar with Polestar. The Aiways has pulled off a sweet is hitting Europe, bringing its electric vehicles, has been used Chinese group Geely bought Volvo deal by partnering with car disruptive concept: rental cars since last May as a test market in 2010 and, by extension, also rental company Hertz in Corsica. shared by members to drastically for NIO, one of China’s largest owns its performance division. The Chinese manufacturer reduce monthly payments. electric car manufacturers. The new Polestar 2 electric sedan supplied hundreds of its U5 The Lynk & Co 01 is actually a Although the information is is moving into the territory of electric SUVs to the platform on revamped Volvo XC40, with a not yet official, several sources Tesla’s Model 3, and deservedly so. the Mediterranean island last hybrid version available. suspect that the brand, with summer, as part of its mission its sights set on the high-end to “Electrify Corsica”. market, will move into Germany next year.
24 ANALYSIS SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021
INTERVIEW NEW ŠKODA Those tempting convertibles As rates continue to climb, convertible bonds come out looking like a great E N YAQ iV trade-off between security and performance.
BY BERTRAND BEAUTÉ
The year 2020 will forever stand out as memorable for attractive in times of uncertainty because convertible bonds. This hybrid asset class – halfway you can benefit from the upside while limit- between stocks and bonds – has managed to fare well ing the downside. In other words, convertible and limit fallout during phases of stock market correc- bonds help to smoothen market volatility. tion, while taking advantage of bull markets. As a result, Personally, I don’t think we’re in a bubble yet. over the whole of 2020, the leading convertible index I believe equity growth will continue. In fact, (Refinitiv Global Convertible Index) shot up 32%, while central banks continue to flood the world the global equity index (the MSCI World Net TR) only with cash that is pouring into stocks and rose 12%. Can that impressive performance be rep- cryptocurrencies, pushing up their valuation. licated in 2021? Analysis by Quentin Philippe, Global And so far, we haven’t seen any alarming Portfolio Manager at Schelcher Prince Gestion. valuation levels in the financial markets.
In this period of rising interest rates, are convertible Which companies are issuing convertibles? bonds an attractive financial product? Forty per cent of the global convertible bond Everyone will be talking about interest rates pool (Europe, Asia, North America, Japan) for the entire year in 2021. After hitting a low now consists of growth companies, including during the pandemic, rates have been climb- technology stocks, such as the online retail ing for more than six months and are likely to company Zalando and the e-commerce phar- continue upwards. If the trend continues, it macy Zur Rose. New convertible issues also could adversely impact growth stocks, espe- include companies that have been hit hard by cially technology stocks. By analysing periods the health crisis, including the tour operator of rising interest rates over the past 20 years, TUI and the travel retailer Dufry. Convertible we observe that convertible bonds are the bonds are a popular solution both for growth preferred asset class in this case, both in the companies that need cash to finance their United States and in Europe. development and for companies experiencing temporary difficulties. They therefore create Does this mean that investors should allocate more of a diversified portfolio. their portfolio to convertible bonds? 100% électrique. 100% pour vous. For now, equities are still rising, despite the surge in interest rates. Investors who feel Choisissez la joie et la facilité avec le ŠKODA ENYAQ iV entièrement that this trend will continue don’t need to électrique. Il se distingue par une technologie avant-gardiste tout en restant change their strategy. However, those who QUENTIN PHILIPPE une voiture du présent: pratique au quotidien, avec beaucoup d’espace et fear that the strong market growth will end GLOBAL PORTFOLIO MANAGER une grande autonomie. Bien entendu, il est également disponible en version Scanner pour are well advised to switch to convertible SCHELCHER PRINCE GESTION 4x4. Testez-le maintenant! ŠKODA. Made for Switzerland. une expérience 3D bonds. These financial products are truly
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RZ_skd_30_21003_National_Enyaq_iV_Swissquote_Magazin_QR-Code_200x260_df_C-v3.indd 2 10.06.21 15:16 SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021
NOT WEARING YOUR Crypto Chronicles Bitcoin in WATCH ANYMORE? eco-friendly clothes Accused of being an environmental disaster, Bitcoin tries to go green.
BY LUDOVIC CHAPPEX
ressure has cranked up a Proof of Stake (PoS), which does The eco-friendly hype around notch in recent weeks. Bitcoin not use super-powered machines to cryptocurrency mining has led to is increasingly criticised for validate the blocks in the blockchain. some amusing situations. An article Pbeing an energy drain, and in May it Basically, Bitcoin’s reputation is not in the UK’s Metro newspaper via the was the target of yet another jab, this going to improve if nothing is done. Binance Wiki explains that a growing time from Elon Musk. After announc- number of British farmers who ing that Tesla was preparing to accept The mining industry is in the hot produce electricity from manure – by payments in BTC two months earlier, seat and starting to react. Major converting methane into electricity the entrepreneur changed his mind, industry players, including Argo – are now using it to power their own pointing to Bitcoin’s energy-hungry Blockchain, Blockcap, Galaxy carbon-neutral crypto mining opera- operations. The next twist came on Digital, Hive Blockchain and Riot tions. The energy source, which they 13 June, when Musk in the end decid- Blockchain, have banded together used to sell to the UK electricity dis- ed that his firm would accept Bitcoin to form the Bitcoin Mining Council. tributor National Grid, is now earning payments if miners used a reasonable Their objective is to promote trans- them up to $50 a day – mostly from proportion of renewable energy, i.e. parency and best practices, includ- Ether mining. about 50%. ing establishing an energy reporting standard. This project echoes the Even better: after becoming the The problem is nothing new. Mining Sustainable Bitcoin Standard (SBS) first country to adopt Bitcoin as a BTC requires an indecent amount initiative launched in April, a Swiss legal tender on 9 June, El Salvador of electricity. That currently equals not-for-profit foundation that aims announced that it would use the about 0.6% of the world’s electricity to promote carbon-neutral Bitcoin energy from its volcanoes for mining consumption, which is more than the mining by 2025. the currency! Its young 39-year old Get an estimate to sell or trade in your watch quickly and securely. annual consumption of a country like president Nayib Bukele has been all Argentina, according to a Cambridge In terms of concrete applications, over Twitter about this. “Our engi- Our free home collection service is available on request. University index updated every Agro Blockchain announced in late neers just informed me that they 24 hours. March in a release that it was part- dug a new well, that will provide watchfinder.ch • +41 22 501 72 37 � Rue du Marché 34, 1204 Genève nering with DMG Blockchain solution approximately 95MW of 100% clean, Most of the highest potential crypto to launch “the first Bitcoin mining 0 emissions geothermal energy from Watchfinder’s servicing centre is accredited by more than 19 manufacturers including: currencies have worked around this pool powered exclusively by clean our volcanos,” he tweeted on 9 June. shortcoming by using a much less energy”, mostly generated by hydro- “Starting to design a full #Bitcoin energy-intensive method called electric resources. mining hub around it.”
28 PORTRAIT SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021 PORTRAIT SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021
An archive photo of a The Swiss flavour and fragrance giant Givaudan laboratory, from 1989. The Swiss outshines its competitors by focusing firm, founded at on plant-based proteins and organic the end of the 19th century, is now at manufacturing processes. The story the forefront of the of a technological powerhouse. ecology field. Givaudan BY JULIE ZAUGG goes green
ivaudan is getting ready to music symphony can be ruined by the Department of Food Science at open an innovation centre the sound of a single electric guitar.” the University of Massachusetts. in Singapore where it will But many challenges remain. “Meat Gdevelop plant-based protein alterna- To reproduce the taste of meat or and fish change colour and consist- tives. Created in collaboration with fish, Givaudan works on identifying ency when cooked,” he says. “An the St. Gallen group Bühler, the 400 the thousands of chemicals they alternative plant-based protein has square metre facility will include contain – including both volatile to behave in the same way. It must a demonstration kitchen, meeting chemicals related to smell and also be adaptable to different ways rooms, visitor area, along with its chemicals expressed in the mouth of preparing it, as some people like Swiss partner’s extrusion machines, in the form of taste – using chroma- their steak well done and others which are used to process plant tography and mass spectrometry. rare.” Plus, the soy and pea proteins protein into fibrous material that “The company draws on its vast used to make artificial meat and fish resembles meat or fish. The centre portfolio of compounds to identify have a slightly bitter taste that needs – open to the region’s startups and the most appropriate chemicals to be masked. university researchers – will even- and combines them to produce tually produce 40 kilos of animal the desired aroma,” Puglisi says. But solutions are being found to protein substitutes per hour. address these issues with new plant- based protein flavours developed by “In the past few years, Givaudan “Meat and fish Givaudan, which leads the industry has been focusing on environmen- along with Firmenich, based in Geneva, tal technologies, which include change colour and and the American firm IFF. “In the last IN NUMBERS plant-based meat and fish,” notes consistency when three or four years, the quality of al- Jean-Philippe Bertschy, an analyst cooked. An alternative ternative plant proteins has improved at Vontobel who has been covering drastically,” says Puglisi. $27.9 BN CHF 6.3 BN +4–5% 15,852 plant-based protein the company for about 20 years. has to behave in Expected market value 2020 revenue of the firm Givaudan’s forecast The number of people The firm specialises in flavours and Founded in 1895, Givaudan has for plant-based meat based in Vernier, in the annual revenue growth employed by the co-lours that reproduce the experi- the same way” come up with solutions to improve Julian McClements, professor in alternatives by 2025, canton of Geneva. by 2025. The flavours company, spread over ence of eating animal protein. the Department of Food Science at the taste of these preparations, more than double its division alone is 181 sites. the University of Massachusetts cover up the bitter taste of the current value – growth to expected to generate This is a real challenge. “Eating is plant-based proteins, optimise their feed Givaudan’s appetite. additional sales between an experience that combines oral, visual appearance and reduce the 750 million and 1 billion visual and auditory sensations, such Sometimes, that takes searching sensation of dryness that they can Swiss francs by then. as the sound of bacon sizzling in the for new ingredients in nature. “For cause in the mouth. pan,” says Joseph Puglisi, professor example, the myoglobin that gives of structural biology at Stanford Uni- raw meat its red colour can be repro- The global leader in flavours and versity. “Each note must be perfectly duced with leghemoglobin, a protein fragrances, whose concoctions are in its place, or the end result will be found in the root of soybeans,” says used in perfumes, laundry products, inedible, much like how a classical Julian McClements, a professor with personal care products, cosmetics, STAFF PHOTOGRAPH / SCMP NEWSCOM STAFF
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Sam Brunschweiler, ANALYST ADVICE Givaudan’s senior development chef, “GIVAUDAN IS WELL POSITIONED presents a pea protein burger at FOR FURTHER GROWTH” the company’s innovation centre Virtually unaffected by the pandemic, Givaudan saw in Kemptthal, its sales grow by 7.7% in the first quarter to 1.67 billion canton of Zurich Swiss francs, up from its 4% revenue growth in 2020 (29 October, 2020). to 6.3 billion Swiss francs. Segments affected by lock downs, such as food service and fine fragrances, did suffer, but this was offset by higher sales in food sold in supermarkets, personal care products and cosmetics sold online. The Asia-Pacific region was another growth region, with revenue up 10.2%. “Thanks to its finan cial strength, the diversity of its offering and its broad geographic exposure, Givaudan is well positioned for further growth,” said Jean-Philippe Bertschy, who cov ers the firm at Vontobel and points out that it has been outperforming its competitors for several quarters. He issued a Buy recommendation. GIVN
beverages and food, is not only The Swiss flavour giant is keen to go innovating in plant proteins. This en- greener with its product range and ARND WIEGMANN / REUTERS vironmental shift is also taking place manufacturing processes in order in scents. “One of the major projects to meet the demands of its clients under way is to replace some of the and, by extension, consumers. “The ingredients extracted from nature or plant protein market is booming,” “The eating habits in these coun- bioreactor cell culture and biocatal- ation. Hans-Peter Meyer points to To focus on these new operations, produced synthetically with com- says Stanford’s Joseph Puglisi. tries are very different from those ysis. “Tolerance for cosmetics with the case of agarwood. “When this Givaudan has divested some of its pounds generated through biotech- in the West,” the expert says. “They synthetic or chemically produced Southeast Asian tree is infected more traditional divisions, such as its nology,” Jean-Philippe Bertschy says. are already used to eating more ingredients has decreased dra- by a certain fungus, it generates a pectin (gelling agent used as a thick- pork and less steak or burgers.” matically in recent years,” notes pleasant scent to defend itself, but ener in the food industry) business Basically, there are two ways of Consumer demand Hans-Peter Meyer. “People want it takes about 20 years for a tree to and its processed and grated cheese doing that. The first is to cultivate also explains This need to adapt to local pre- natural products.” reach maturity,” he says. Other raw business, both sold in 2020. Givaudan plant cells in a bioreactor by adding ferences is why the Innovation materials that have become rare has also made deals to strengthen bacteria or yeast that will serve as a why Givaudan is Centre focused on plant proteins In addition, sourcing some of the raw include sandalwood, extracted from its capabilities in enzymes and growth factor, allowing them to mul- turning to natural was created in Singapore, to serve materials typically used to produce a tree that grows in India and the bioengineering, such as the coop- tiply rapidly, explains microbiologist manufacturing the Asia-Pacific region. Several flavours and fragrances has become Pacific, or ambergris, extracted from eration agreement with Denmark’s Hans-Peter Meyer, a professor at Asian startups, such as Omnipork, increasingly difficult due to climate the intestinal secretions of the Novozymes and its acquisition of the University of Applied Sciences processes Zhenmeat or Whole Perfect Food, change, over-farming and deforest- endangered sperm whale. France’s Alderys. and Arts Western Switzerland. For have already begun developing meat example, in 2019 Givaudan released or fish substitutes in line with local Additionally, in 2020 Givaudan an amber scent called Ambrofix pro- “Beyond Meat has been a pioneer in tastes, such as steamed ravioli, invested 536 million Swiss francs duced by fermenting sugar cane. pushing for meat substitutes to be meat-on-the-bone pieces or pork in research and development. The sold alongside meat on supermarket meatballs braised in sauce, a Chinese Geneva-based group spends an aver- The second process, biocatalysis, shelves, and that has lifted demand speciality called “lion’s head”. TRANSLATING SCENTS INTO COLOURS age of 8% of its revenue on research transforms a chemical to give it for these alternatives.” and development, more than its main properties identical to those of the For Givaudan, this is a huge market Givaudan is also innovating in hopes that the acquisition will competitors, including IFF and the the field of marketing. In April, enable it to offer its clients plant one wishes to imitate. “It is After starting in the US, the move- to capture. The plant-based protein the Swiss firm acquired French advertising strategies with German company Symrise, which different from traditional catalysis ment has spread to Europe and is segment currently only accounts for startup Myrissi. Launched in imagery that is perfectly tuned continue to rely on more conventional as it uses an enzyme – a natural beginning to catch on in Asia, par- 2% of its sales, but it is growing fast, 2014, Myrissi has developed an into the emotions created by technologies. “This strategy, combin- product – as the transformation ticularly in China, which accounts says Bertschy of Vontobel. artificial intelligence solution its fragrances. This innovation ing internal innovation and strategic agent,” explains Hans-Peter Meyer. for 28% of global meat consumption, and a database containing more makes sense in the age of acquisitions, has given them a real Using this process, the Swiss firm and in Buddhist countries such as Consumer demand also explains than 25,000 consumer tests e-commerce, as customers head start over their competitors,” that translates fragrances into have to rely entirely on online has created a floral woody fragrance Thailand, where eating animal pro- why Givaudan is turning to natural colours, patterns and images promotional material to make says Jean-Philippe Bertschy. And he called Akigalawood™. tein was already frowned upon. manufacturing processes, such as (and vice versa). Givaudan their choice. expects that gap to widen.
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DOSSIER DIGITAL START AWAKENING IN THE OLD CONTINENT Lagging behind in digital technology, Europe became fully aware of its dependence on US and Asian digital tech firms during the pandemic. It’s time for revolt.
BY BERTRAND BEAUTÉ
39. Is the Union too soft?
40. Infographic: The United States, In just a few months, the world’s by far the number 1 digital transformation has advanced several years.” These 42. Interview with “simple words uttered by analyst Alexandre Pauchard, Brice Prunas from Oddo BHF Asset CEO of CSEM Management sum up an opinion unanimously shared by his peers. 46. Can deep tech companies His colleague Jack Neele, head of rescue Europe? the Robeco Global Consumer Trends Dossier prepared by: Equities Fund, agrees, “The coronavi- Bertrand Beauté and 50. 25 high-potential rus has led to an unparalleled boom Stanislas Cavalier European startups in the use of digital services.”
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While remote working is probably Thomas More Institute. “When a new tres, smartphones, semiconductors, where we need to get better,” Ursula the most obvious facet of this shift, service is developed, a new player chips and microprocessors. Europe von der Leyen, president of the Finally something almost all human activities have been emerges and monopolises the entire has become a digital colony, depend- European Commission, stated in concrete! swept up in the digital wave, from market, like Google, which holds more ent on American and Asian giants.” March 2021, adding, “We must now education to healthcare, to manufac- than 90% of the global search engine make this Europe’s Digital Decade.” In March 2021, the European Commission turing, retail, leisure and culture. The market.” And that case is no excep- Even though Europe fell far behind published its roadmap for the digital numbers are spectacular. In 2020, tion. Uber dominates private trans- in the digital race long ago – dating With that in mind, Brussels plans to economy. Here are some highlights of online sales for example jumped by portation; Netflix for series; Airbnb back at least to the 2000s – the set aside about €150 billion for the its main targets. 59% in Australia, 46.7% in the United for property rentals; TripAdvisor for health crisis has pushed the Old digital transition by 2027, i.e. 20% of Kingdom and 32.4% in the United restaurant reservations, and so on. Continent back even further. “Europe its post-COVID recovery plan, Next States, according to a report by the woke up from the pandemic with Generation EU. The goal is to develop STARTUPS United Nations Conference on Trade “The picture is bleak,” says Cyrille a hangover, bitterly aware of its Europe’s “digital sovereignty”. And to Double the number of unicorns between and Development (UNCTAD) published Dalmont, author of the report “The cumulative lag” says Thomas Coudry. get there, Europe has defined a set 2021 and 2030 to almost 250. on 3 May. Impossible European Digital Sover- “People now seem to be becoming of specific targets for 2030 and will eignty” published in April 2021. “The truly aware of the problem.” arm itself with a new regulatory arse- Video conferencing solution Zoom, world’s top five hardware firms do nal in the form of the Digital Market ELECTRONIC CHIPS meanwhile, has seen its number of not include a single European com- “The pandemic has exposed how Act to fight the excesses of giant Double its share of semiconductor manufac- daily users soar from 10 million in pany. The same is true for operating crucial digital technologies and skills American tech firms due to their turing on the global market in terms of value from 10% in 2020 to 20% by 2030. early 2020 to more than 300 million systems, cloud computing, data cen- are to work, study and engage – and dominant positions. today. Netflix, the world’s leading video streaming service, saw its DEEP TECH subscriber base shoot up from 167.1 Build its first quantum computer by 2025, million at the end of 2019 to 203.7 “Europe woke up to be on the cutting edge of quantum million at the end of 2020. “As stores, from the pandemic technology by 2030. restaurants, cinemas and the rest of the economy reopen, the growth with a hangover, DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF SOCIETY of some services will slow,” says All essential public services must be Thomas Coudry, head of Tech Equity bitterly aware of available online by 2030. Research at Bryan, Garnier & Co. its cumulative lag” “However, things will never go back TRAINING to the way they were. People have Thomas Coudry, head of Tech Equity Research, at Bryan, Garnier & Co Eighty per cent of adults must have basic developed habits during the pandemic digital skills by 2030. that they will not break.”
For the Old Continent, this acceler- INFRASTRUCTURE ated digital transformation brings All European citizens should have gigabit a frightening realisation: not one connectivity by 2030, versus 59% in 2020. European company ranks among the world’s tech elite (see infographic on JOBS p. 40). “The Americans have GAFAM The information and communication (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, technology sector should employ 20 million Microsoft). The Chinese have BATX people in 2030, up from 7.8 million in 2019. (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, Xiaomi). And Europe? We have the GDPR (General BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION Data Protection Regulation),” French Three out of four companies should be President Emmanuel Macron said using cloud computing services, big data ironically last December, criticizing and artificial intelligence. the Old Continent’s propensity to create regulations rather than global leaders.
It would be wrong to think that the problem is limited only to GAFAM and BATX. “Digital technology is a winner-takes-all market,” says Cyrille Dalmont, associate researcher at the
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Too little, too late? Experts are not in In a sector that is less visible to “We must remain cautious about agreement. “These are steps in the consumers, “Europe, and Germany 5G infrastructure,” says Kallianiotis right direction,” says Brice Prunas, in particular, also has core com- of UBP. “It is true that Nokia and Global Equity Fund manager at Oddo petencies in the industrial digital Ericsson dominate the global market BHF Asset Management. “But I’m economy,” says Dimitri Kallianiotis, due to their skills, but also due to a afraid it’s not enough.” By compari- a technology investment expert at combination of circumstances. If the IS THE UNION son, the world’s largest chipmaker, Union Bancaire Privée (UBP). Europe US had not torpedoed Huawei, these Taiwan-based TSMC, will invest $100 is actually a leader in this field of two companies wouldn’t be where billion alone over the next three years developing smart factories and they are today.” to expand its production capacity, automating industrial processes according to a Bloomberg article (Industry 4.0), with flagships such But Europe is looking further ahead. published in April. as the Swiss ABB, France’s Dassault To get back into the game, it is TOO SOFT? Systèmes, the Swedish firm Hexa- focusing on disruptive technologies Eric Baissus, CEO of the key French gon and Germany’s SAP, Bosch and known as “deep tech” (see article Faced with the economic interventionism of large tech firm Kalray, which designs Nemetschek. However, the digital- on p. 46). For example, it plans to next-generation processors, is isation of factories is expected to develop a first quantum computer by nations, the European Union appears vulnerable. more confident. “I’m pretty optimis- pick up with the deployment of 5G 2025, to edge out on the forefront of The story of a decline. tic. Europe has made tremendous infrastructures, a field also domi quantum capabilities by 2030. “We progress in recent years, especially nated by Europe with Finland’s Nokia are entering a new era of innovation, BY BERTRAND BEAUTÉ in terms of funding. And people are and Sweden’s Ericsson. in which European companies can more aware now. If we believe in make their mark,” says Jack Neele, ourselves, we have real reasons to head of the Global Consumer Trends stay hopeful.” Equities fund at Robeco. Eric Baissus “Europe has missed agrees. “Europe has missed out on Europe is a continent, not a of fair treatment between companies United States does not hesitate to Although Europe is coming from far the first digital revolutions,” Kalray’s country,” says Jack Neele, (prohibiting subsidies), non-dis- support its national big shots, either behind, it is not starting from scratch. out on the first digital CEO says. “But as far as deep tech head of the Global Consumer crimination (opening access to the by putting up hurdles for foreign As we highlight in our report, the Old revolutions” is concerned, the battle is not lost “Trends Equities fund at Robeco. “It European market to all foreign or- players, for example banning Huawei, Continent features some digital su- and we are well positioned on the encompasses several languages ganisations) and antitrust rules that or via public funds. “GAFAM and BATX perstars, such as the Dutch company Eric Baissus, CEO of Kalray starting line.” and as many cultures, to the point prevent the formation of European all have orders from their home gov- Adyen (payment services), Sweden’s that a service that is successful in giants. “European law is not extra ernments, such as Microsoft which Spotify (music streaming), German Germany, for example, is not sure territorial. That means companies signed a $22 billion contract with firm Zalando (e-commerce), Poland’s to be successful in France or Spain. from outside the EU do not have to the US Army in April,” says Dalmont. Allegro (e-commerce) and the British Conversely, American or Chinese comply with its legislation in their These practices would be difficult, delivery company Deliveroo (see com- companies benefit from a large local home countries, which therefore if not impossible, to introduce in pany profiles on p. 50 to 58), which market. This strength gives them an favours foreign operators,” Cyrille the EU, because of antitrust rules. could benefit from the European advantage when it comes to export- Dalmont continues, “especially since “Europe has been very naive,” says recovery plan to grow. ing abroad.” China and the United States use all Eric Baissus, CEO of Kalray. “It has the tricks they have at their disposal long looked the other way, rather And the common market has come to assert their domination.” than recognise that China is a closed nowhere near solving the problem. market, and that the United States is “The EU is not a nation. It’s an inter- somewhat as well.” national organisation made up of 27 countries that are trying to reach “European law But things seem to be changing. agreement,” says Cyrille Dalmont of “European competition law was the Thomas More Institute, a con- favours foreign designed to favour the consumer, servative think tank. “And like any operators” rather than encourage the formation international organisation, its main Cyrille Dalmont, of national or continental champi- function is to develop standards associate researcher at ons,” points out Thomas Coudry, 1 that are binding for all countries the Thomas More Institute an analyst at Bryan, Garnier & Co. that have ratified its treaties. But “Nevertheless, this doctrine is that overabundance of standards evolving.” This is evidenced in the 2 makes it difficult for a European interventionist policies announced by GAFAM to emerge.” By blocking Amazon, Uber and Google the EU last autumn to support two 3 in China, Beijing has fuelled the “key technologies”, i.e., batteries and A great defender of free trade, emergence of BATX (Baidu, Alibaba, semiconductors. Other programmes European law is based on principles Tencent, Xiaomi). Meanwhile, the are expected to follow.
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TOP 10 TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES BY REGION (capitalisation in billions of dollars, May 2021)
THE UNITED STATES, THE UNITED STATES 1 Apple 2,107 2 Microsoft 1,847 3 Amazon 1,649 4 Alphabet 1,544 BY FAR THE NUMBER 1 5 Facebook 895 6 Tesla 555 Lagging behind, the Old Continent currently has no world tech champion. Europe must act in order to reduce its dependence 7 Visa 498 on the American and Asian giants. 8 Mastercard 360 9 Nvidia 354 BY STANISLAS CAVALIER 10 PayPal 287
ASIA 1 Tencent 750 2 Alibaba 580 3 Meituan 203 4 Pinduo duo 148 5 JD.com 107 6 Xiaomi 85 7 NetEase 71 8 Baidu 67 9 LONGI 59 10 Will Semiconductor 36
EUROPE 1 ASML 262 2 Prosus 165 3 SAP 162 4 Adyen 63 5 Dassault Systèmes 57 6 NXP 53 7 Infineon 50 8 Spotify 42 9 STMicroelectronics 32 8 7 6 2 1 10 Zalando 27 9 5 10 4 1 3 3 2 2 1 3 10 200 BN 400 BN 600 BN 800 BN 1,000 BN 1,200 BN 1,400 BN 1,600 BN 1,800 BN 2,000 BN 4 9 10 5 8 6 7 7 6 8 4 9 5
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Alexandre Pauchard, the t was high time. For too long, also emerged in the United States new CEO of CSEM (Swiss most of Swissquote Magazine’s with Altavista (acquired by Yahoo!), Centre for Electronics I interviews were held by video Google, Amazon, eBay and Facebook. and Microengineering), conference, as the traditional out- In short, American firms have been shares his perspective of-office interviews were replaced by pioneers in all fields and are now discussions led on Zoom, Microsoft massively reaping the benefits. on the Old Continent’s Teams and Google Meet. The epi- weaknesses in digital sode, in itself anecdotal, exposed technology, while being a more alarming underlying issue: “Europe generates a optimistic about the Europe’s almost total depend- future. ence on foreign digital solutions. lot of promising startups. BY BERTRAND BEAUTÉ However, the most It was exactly to discuss this issue that we had the pleasure of going interesting ones are to Neuchâtel to meet Alexandre frequently bought by big Pauchard, the new CEO of CSEM foreign players” (Swiss Centre for Electronics and Microengineering). Bobst’s former R&D director takes an uncompro- But similar services have been mising look at Europe’s current tech created in Europe. Why haven’t situation, while hoping for a recov- they succeeded in breaking ery. Find out more in this interview. through internationally? Europe generates a lot of promising The pandemic has accelerated startups, often resulting from re- the digital transformation of search. However, the most interest- society. But most digital services ing ones are frequently bought by big are provided by US companies. foreign players. Skype, for example, Why are there no European was founded in Europe, before being players to compete with GAFAM acquired in 2011 by Microsoft for AN ECLECTIC AND (Google, Apple, Facebook, $8.5 billion. That’s what we call the INTERNATIONAL PROFILE Amazon, Microsoft)? gravitational effect: the big firms Europe is not a digital desert. We do get bigger and bigger because they On 18 January, Alexandre have some very good success sto- have immense resources to absorb Pauchard, age 50, suc- ceeded Mario El-Khoury ries, such as the e-commerce plat- technologies developed by others. at the helm of CSEM. Be- forms Zalando and Asos, or the mu- fore joining CSEM, this sic streaming service Spotify. In the In the field of digital services, US INTERVIEW Fribourg-native spent 10 field of business software, we also giants also benefit from a snowball years as head of R&D at have world leaders such as SAP, Sage effect. These companies feed off Bobst, the Swiss machine and Dassault Systèmes (ed. note: the data they collect. The companies builder for the packaging industry. Pauchard holds see company profiles on p. 50 to 58). that started early have a competi- “EUROPE CAN a degree in physics from tive advantage that increases with ETH Zurich and a doctor- But we clearly trail behind the time: the more users you have, the ate in microtechnology Americans. Not surprisingly, as more data you have, the more you from EPFL. In addition, the US has dominated the digital have to feed your algorithms, and he worked as CTO for a sector since computing was born. therefore to create new services. CATCH UP” Sillicon Valley startup specialised in optical Computer chips were created in That in turn attracts even more components, then at ID Silicon Valley. Microsoft and Apple users who generate more data. Quantique in quantum were pioneers in operating sys- cryptography and at Syn- tems and office software, and then Finally, in the software sector, there ova in laser cutting. He they made the transition to the is also a phenomenon of captivity: also worked as a consult- cloud. As for search engines, online once installed in an ecosystem, it ant for six years with the Californian firm Intel. commerce or social networks, they is difficult for users to change their
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ductors will fuel future growth. to help companies in their digital quantum technologies and energy Europe seems to have become transition. But isn’t CSEM itself management. CSEM’s aware of this necessity follow- lagging behind in the digital headquarters ing concerns about the supply of sector? What concrete applications in Neuchâtel. electronic components. The short- Not at all! CSEM is renowned world- has CSEM developed in digital age shows how important it is to wide, especially for its Bluetooth Low technology? maintain local production, as is the Energy (BLE) chips, which are used in We are highly active in the dig- case in Switzerland with EM Marin, wireless headsets. Many companies, ital industry. For example, the a subsidiary of the Swatch Group. including Fujitsu, are asking us for Zurich-based company Ava, an this expertise. Another example: in offshoot of CSEM, has launched a The Brussels plan aims to increase machine learning, a CSEM spin-off fertility monitoring bracelet de- Europe’s share of the semiconductor called ViDi Systems was acquired in veloped in collaboration with the market from 10% to 20% of global 2017 by Cognex, the world leader in Centre. All data is transmitted to production by 2030. This is a step machine vision. It’s a good sign when a smartphone via Bluetooth. An in the right direction. But we must big names like Fujitsu and Cognex application can then visualise the be careful: success is not always are interested in you. It means you’re best time to try to conceive a child. the consequence of investment. on the cutting edge. That said, digital This startup has recently made
CSEM The know-how involved in such technology is a vast industry. CSEM news by showing that its bracelet cutting-edge technology must be cannot cover all digital fields. For can also track COVID by detecting built over time: an entire ecosystem example, we are not going to start the infection in patients two days must be established, from produc- developing apps for iPhones. We before the first symptoms appear. tion plants to customers, including try to focus on our strengths. subcontractors and student training. Still in the medical field, startups environment. This high barrier rein- Mindmaze, Netguardians and for producing chips in volume are What are those strengths? Aktiia and Biospectal have launched forces the status quo and prevents GetYourGuide, to name just a few. all in Asia: Taiwan, South Korea, If Europe’s announcements are CSEM focuses on three sectors: wearable bracelets that measure the emergence of new players. China and Japan. Taiwan’s TSMC followed up with action, and if these precision micro-manufacturing, blood pressure. Compared to oth- What will it take for these alone has 56% of the global mar- efforts continue over the long term, which is its core expertise; renewable er tools already on the market, all Despite this, China, unlike Swiss companies to grow? ket for foundries that produce I’m still optimistic. We can reverse energy, with internationally recog- these products developed in col- Europe, has been able to To do better, Switzerland needs to semiconductors for third parties, the trend and catch up within 10 to nised know-how; and digitalisation. laboration with CSEM stand out in create its own heavyweights... strengthen access to venture capital ahead of Samsung at 18%. 15 years. In digitalisation, we excel in min- that they are medically validated. Beijing has taken an extremely inter- for companies in the scale-up phase. iaturisation, precision and low-en- They are not gadgets like those ventionist approach, especially with Even though startups can more Even the United States is now To achieve that, the EU is also ergy use. These are key aspects in found on smartwatches and smart- the Great Firewall (ed. note: an Inter- easily access venture capital than lagging behind. Its market share has trying to convince Intel and certain digital applications, such as phones. These medical devices are net censorship system, named after they could 15 years ago, it is still fallen from 27% in 1990 to 12% to- TSMC to build factories in the Internet of Things, Industry 4.0, currently attracting keen interest. the Great Wall of China, which bans very difficult in Switzerland and more day, according to the Semiconductor Europe. Isn’t it counter-produc- access to certain foreign content), generally in Europe to raise funds Industry Association (SIA). Despite tive to call on foreign companies thereby blocking GAFAM’s access to between 10 and 100 million Swiss Silicon Valley being the birthplace of when you’re trying to build your the Chinese market. This strategy francs to enable startups to grow. the industry, Washington must now own sovereignty? has protected the emergence of invest heavily to catch up. Joe Biden It’s pragmatic. These firms are CSEM, BRINGING RESEARCH AND INDUSTRY TOGETHER local solutions, and then the interna- has announced that he wants to where the expertise is. So it’s worth tional development of BATX (Baidu, invest $50 billion in US factories to it to bring them here, so they can With locations in Basel, Zurich, life sciences, space, automation, “Europe must react Graubünden, Central Switzerland semiconductors and transportation. Alibaba, Tencent and Xiaomi). As in swiftly” manufacture semiconductors. Europe create highly skilled jobs, which will and Neuchâtel, CSEM (Swiss Centre Among its achievements, CSEM other areas, China has been able must also react swiftly to avoid being develop opportunities for students for Electronics and Microengineer developed the first mouse with to protect its long-term interests. left out of this key growth driver who want to get into these fields. To ing) was created in 1984 from the an optical reader, which was later The current shortage of in our increasingly digital world. be honest, I’m not sure that Europe merger of three separate entities: commercialised by Logitech. The How is Switzerland positioned? electronic chips has also can reverse the trend without these the Centre Electronique Horloger Centre is a non-profit organisation Thanks to its excellent skills, highlighted Europe’s dependence At the end of March, the European big companies. The United States (CEH), the Laboratoire Suisse de and employs nearly 540 people. Its Recherches Horlogères (LSRH) and budget totalled 89.2 million Swiss Switzerland is participating in the on the key semiconductor Commission announced its plans knows how it works. In June 2020, it the Swiss Foundation for Research francs in 2020, with 42% of the development of America’s tech sector... What role does Europe to invest in stepping up semicon- convinced the Taiwanese company in Microtechnology (FSRM). The funds coming from industrial pro giants. For example, IBM, Google, play in this arena? ductor production on the Old TSMC to invest $12 billion to build a purpose of the Centre is to serve jects and Innosuisse funding, and Oracle and Microsoft have very Not enough of one. Europe repre- Continent, by developing an factory in Phoenix, which will create as a bridge between research and the rest from public contributions important research centres in sents about 10% of the world’s “Airbus of chips” to ensure 13,000 high value-added jobs. industry. In addition to watchmak and research funds. Last year, CSEM our country. In addition, an entire production of electronic chips. Not its digital sovereignty. Is that ing, its core field, CSEM has gained collaborated with 225 companies. expertise in numerous high-tech For the next few years, Alexandre ecosystem of local software com- only is it lagging behind, but the idealistic? CSEM’s mission is to transfer fields such as photovoltaics (the in Pauchard’s objectives are to support panies exists in Switzerland, with gap is widening every year. To- We absolutely need to create an innovation from research to the stitution works with Meyer Burger, CSEM’s growth, accelerate its digital companies such as Doodle, Nexthink, day, the most efficient factories Airbus of chips, because semicon- industrial sector and especially among others), medical technology, transformation and raise its profile.
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CAN DEEP TECH COMPANIES RESCUE EUROPE? Europe is in a strong position to develop the digital technologies of the future. But it will have to protect the startups that create them.
BY BERTRAND BEAUTÉ
ecall January 2020: at the messenger RNA technology had time, few people knew about never received unanimous approval R BioNTech. Not surprisingly. This and remained only a concept. But German company, founded in 2008, now mRNA could turn the tables for had never brought a product to mar- many therapeutic applications (see ket and for the most part skewed off Swissquote Magazine, March 2021). the radar outside scientific circles. A year and a half later, the compa- Although deep tech firms are active The main hall ny is raking in billions of dollars. in various industries (healthcare, of ETH Zürich. With its partner Pfizer, it is reaping energy, materials, etc.), it seems to the rewards of the phenomenal hold the greatest promise in digital success of its messenger RNA vac- technology through artificial intelli- cine against COVID-19. In business gence, quantum computers, drones circles, BioNTech is the perfect and virtual reality. Experts specu- example of a “deep tech” company. late that, following the internet and cloud computing, these technolo- ETH ZÜRICH Deep technology is an umbrel- gies could bring about a third tech la term for startups focused on revolution. “We are entering a new scientific development. They draw era of innovation,” says Jack Neele, on disruptive innovation requiring a head of the Global Consumer Trends prolonged R&D phase before reach- Equities Fund at Robeco. Enjoying a ing the market. But the technol- key position in these areas, Europe ogy they develop could eventually could re-route this pivotal moment revolutionise the way we do things. to its advantage and make up for its For example, before the pandemic, all-round lag in digital technology.
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The Old Continent is home to a range institutions worldwide in computer headquarters to the United States EUROPEAN TECH LOOKING TO STAND ON ITS OWN THE TOP EUROPEAN UNIVERSITIES of deep tech companies. Some are science (see infographic on p. 49). before going public on the New York Nearly 20% of European unicorns are eventually bought already listed on the stock exchange, Dealroom.co points out that 35% Stock Exchange in April 2021. by foreign companies. IN COMPUTER SCIENCE* such as Kalray in semiconductors, of German students study science, 1. University of Oxford (UK) IPOs in the Darktrace in artificial intelligence, with 28% in France and 26% in the The “State of European Tech 2. Stanford University (US) United States and UiPath and Blue Prism in United Kingdom. These rates by far 2020” report estimates that 14% 3. Massachusetts Institute robotic process automation (see outpace the United States (18%). of European unicorns – unlisted of Technology (US) company profiles on p. 50 to 58). companies valued at more than $1 billion – are bought by US compa- 4. ETH Zurich (CH) These companies have prospered nies and 8% by Chinese firms (see 38% 5. Carnegie Mellon University (US) because deep tech, by definition “Cities like Berlin, London infographic on p. 49). These take- 6. University of Cambridge (UK) a high-risk undertaking, no longer and Amsterdam have overs weaken European leadership. 7. Harvard University (US) deters investors. “Ten years ago, a To break the cycle, in March 8. National University of Singapore company like ours never would have managed to build 35 European unicorns, including (SG) found funding in Europe. The word France’s Blablacar, Italy’s FacilityLive 9. University of California, Berkeley (US) complete ecosystems 36% 14% semiconductor was taboo among that are conducive to and Spain’s Cabify, pushed for the 10. Imperial College London (UK) investors,” says Eric Baissus, CEO of creation of a €100 billion European 11. Princeton University (US) Kalray. But attitudes have changed developing disruptive fund to support high-potential start- 8% 4% Acquisition by 12. Tsinghua University (CN) over the last two or three years.” ups. This European Sovereign Tech IPOs startups” a US company 13. Georgia Institute of Technology (US) Jack Neele, head of Global Consumer Fund, currently under review at the in Europe 14. Cornell University (US) Disruptive innovation is now at- Trends Equities Fund at Robeco European Commission (EC), would tracting European investors. This channel public and private cash 15. Technical University of Munich (DE) is the main conclusion of “2021: into long-term equity investments. Acquisition by a 16. University of California (US) the year of Deep Tech”, a report Acquisition by Chinese company 17. EPFL (CH) published in January by Dealroom. Twenty years ago, Silicon Valley For now, the EC has already de- a European 18. Nanyang Technological University co, a data platform on startup was the place to be if you wanted to ployed a first fund. The EIC Fund is company (SG) ecosystems, and specialised media innovate, because the entire eco- a vehicle for investing directly in 19. UCL (UK) website Sifted. The study shows that system was there – the technolo- startups working on breakthrough 20. University of Illinois (US) the amounts invested by venture gy, the money, the research,” says technologies. An initial €178 mil- * According to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings capitalists in European deep tech Jack Neele from Robeco. “Today, lion in equity investments went to 2021, Computer Science category, which ranks 827 universities companies has exploded in the past that’s not so much the case. The 42 startups in January of this year. worldwide based on different criteria such as research quality, peer judgment and attractiveness. 10 years, reaching an estimated internet has decentralised innova- BROAD DISPARITY The United Kingdom clearly dominates the deep tech industry in Europe, €9.4 billion in 2020. That sum is well tion and new digital services are But Cyrille Dalmont, associate re- with €12.6 billion invested in UK deep tech startups between 2015 and 2020. below funding raised in the United cropping up all around the world, searcher at Thomas Moore Institute, States last year (€33 billion) but especially in Europe. Cities like believes that is not enough. “Europe exceeds investment in China (€6.1 Berlin, London and Amsterdam needs to protect its companies the billion), barring government grants. have managed to build complete way China and the United States do. ecosystems that are conducive to When Washington is not happy with € 12.6 BN The “2021: the year of Deep Tech” developing disruptive startups.” an acquisition, there is no hesitation report also theorises that Europe’s to block the deal. For example, in main strength lies in its world- Now we have to protect them. “The 2018 Donald Trump issued a presi- class academic research. The fact top European companies are too of- dential decree to prevent the take- is, deep tech often starts in labo- ten bought by foreign firms or decide over of the US microprocessor giant ratories. For example, BioNTech is on their own initiative to relocate Qualcomm by its then-Singaporean an offshoot of the University of to the United States,” says Dimitri competitor Broadcom.” € 5.4 BN € 5.0 BN Mainz; Darktrace established at the Kallianiotis of UBP. For example, University of Cambridge; and Kalray world travel booking leader Booking. Europe seems to have taken note and was spun off from France’s Atomic com, founded in the Netherlands is determined to defend itself. The € 2.5 BN € 2.5 BN Energy Commission (Commissar- in 1996, was acquired by the US Digital Market Act (DMA), introduced € 1.2 BN € 1.2 BN iat à l’Énergie Atomique). When it group Priceline in 2005. Skype had last December and set to enter into € 0.9 BN € 0.8 BN € 0.7 BN € 0.6 BN € 0.6 BN € 0.5 BN € 0.3 BN comes to technology, engineering a similar fate. The internet phone force in a year at best, will require € 0.2 BN € 0.1 BN and mathematics, Europe is at the service created in Luxembourg in foreign digital tech giants to inform forefront. The Times Higher Educa- 2003 was swallowed by eBay in the EC of any takeover of a European Spain Italy tion 2021 (THE) World University 2005 and then acquired by Microsoft firm with a high value but low rev- France Finland Ireland Norway Austria Poland Germany Sweden Belgium Denmark Estonia Rankings placed seven Europe- in 2011. Romania-based deep enue. That will give the EU grounds Switzerland an universities among the top 20 tech firm UiPath opted to move its to block acquisitions if it wants. United Kingdom The Netherlands
Sources: Times Higher Education 2021 / The State of European Tech 2020 (Atomico) / 2021 : the year of Deep Tech (Dealroom.co et Sifted) 48 49 DIGITAL SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021 DIGITAL SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021
25 high-potential KULKA/ GETTY MATTHIAS
European startups D A In these days when digital technology is taking over S the world, Europe can no longer depend on turnkey services provided by the K United States. And its companies are ready to step up to the challenge. Here is our selection. BY BERTRAND BEAUTÉ
STREAMWIDE KALRAY DELIVERY HERO ALLEGRO WhatsApp, but secure The French touch in deep tech The Berlin-based delivery service The Polish Amazon Inspired by WhatsApp, in 2013 Streamwide launched a Kalray, a small company in the semiconductor world, Delivery Hero has benefited significantly from the pan- It was the event of the year, if not the decade, for solution similar to the US instant messaging service, dreams of becoming the future Nvidia (see Swissquote demic. The meal delivery specialist doubled its revenue Polish investors. On 12 October 2020, online retail but designed for and emphasising data security. The Magazine, July 2020). To make it there, the French tech in 2020 (up 95%) to €2.8 billion. Compared to its com- specialist Allegro debuted on the Warsaw Stock French company provides two flagship apps: the ul- leader is working towards the next revolution in the petitors (Uber Eats, Deliveroo, TakeAway), the company Exchange, immediately seizing the top spot on the tra-secure “team on mission”, used for example by the sector: embedded artificial intelligence. What does that is unique in its firm positioning in emerging markets, WIG20, the index of the nation’s 20 largest capital- GIGN (an elite French military unit), and “team on the mean? Artificial intelligence is currently hosted in data with 2020 revenues of €257.4 million in South America, isations. Founded in 1999 in a cellar in the western run”, aimed at more traditional customers such as EDF. centres, but in the future it will be stored directly in ob- €386.3 million in the Middle East, and €667.7 million Polish city of Poznań, Allegro now controls nearly 50% With the tailwinds of the pandemic, the company’s jects, including autonomous cars. This new era known as in Asia. The German delivery company prefers to of online commerce in a country of 40 million people. share price has risen by more than 200% in one and a “edge computing” requires purpose-designed electronic leave mature markets where competition is too fierce. Although the firm’s revenue is paltry compared to that half years (between January 2020 and June 2021). chips. After coming out with several prototypes, Kalray That is why Delivery Hero has moved out of Germany of US or Chinese giants (PLN 3.997 trillion in 2020, or Registered office: Paris (FR) / Workforce: 190 / is launching mass production of its edge computing pro- (its home country), Italy, the Netherlands, France and €900 million), it is impressive for a company active in Revenue (2020): €13.9 million cessor this year. The goal is to sell 100,000 of them in Australia. This strategy appeals to analysts, with most only one country. But beware! After years of vacillat- ALSTW the next two years, which should generate sales of €100 recommending buying shares. However, Delivery Hero ing, Amazon finally hit Poland in March 2021. The new million by 2022. Along the way, Kalray will be competing has never been profitable since its creation in 2011, competition may affect Allegro’s unbridled growth with industry leader Nvidia, but also other star players with a net loss in 2020 of €1.4 billion. (54.2% in 2020). including the UK company Graphcore. Registered office: Berlin (DE) / Workforce: 35,528 / Registered office: Poznań (PL) / Workforce: 3,150 / Registered office: Montbonnot-Saint-Martin (FR) / Revenue (2020): €2.471 billion Revenue (2020): €898 million Workforce: 100 / Revenue (2020): €1 million DHER ALE ALKAL
50 51 DIGITAL SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021 DIGITAL SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021 H LOGITECH HEXAGON KEYSTONE D A Z Forty and fabulous Driving Industry 4.0 S Logitech is probably one of the firms to have benefited “Data is in Hexagon’s DNA.” Hexagon’s sleek website L the most from the health crisis. Turning 40 this year, immediately sets the tone. The Swedish company is the Swiss computer peripheral manufacturer saw its a data expert. But not just any data, industry data. revenue soar 74% for its financial year ended 31 March The firm delivers a range of sensors and software 2021. This performance is a result of the pandemic, as to drive factory automation (Industry 4.0), but also consumers worked and played more at home and bought the development of smart cities. On top of these hardware accordingly. “Fiscal Year 2021 was our best core businesses, Hexagon has in recent years added year ever,” Bracken Darrell, the company’s US CEO, machine learning and artificial intelligence. For exam- proudly stated. And the trend is expected to continue. ple, the company works for manufacturers Daimler, Analysts believe that the growth of remote working and Volkswagen and PSA (now Stellantis). Most analysts the advent of e-sports, a field where Logitech enjoys recommend holding shares. strong positioning, should continue long after the crisis. Registered office: Stockholm (SE) / Workforce: 20,000 / SILTRONIC Registered office: Lausanne (CH) / Workforce: 6,000 / Revenue (2020): €3.764 billion Revenue (2021): $5.25 billion HEXA-B The wafer expert LOGN Silicon wafers are the base material required to make any electronic chip. Only a handful of suppli- ers manufacture these wafers: the Japanese com- Assembling the
ASML panies Shin-Etsu and Sumco, the Taiwanese group latest generation EUV machines from GlobalWafers, the Korean SK Siltron and the German the giant ASML Siltronic. Together, the five of them control 90% of takes 4–5 months. the market, estimated at $11.2 billion, with 13% for Each unit costs $ 175 million. Siltronic. Analysts recommend holding its shares. Registered office: Munich (DE) / Workforce: 3,800 / Revenue (2020): €1.207 billion WAF
Poppy Gustafsson, Darktrace co-founder ZALANDO DARKTRACE and CEO The German model AI-powered cybersecurity Zalando is going shopping in Switzerland. Last Octo- Darktrace is a pioneer in applying artificial intelli- ber, the German online fashion giant announced the gence to cybersecurity. This particularly innovative acquisition of the Zurich-based startup Fision, which system is designed to stop unknown computer specialises in virtual fitting rooms. This will expand the attacks autonomously, unlike antivirus software features available on the platform, which experienced a and other traditional firewalls that are built based ASML banner year in 2020 with revenue up 23% to €8 billion. on past events. Its potential convinced Microsoft. Fuelled by the pandemic, Zalando is still thinking big. In May, the US tech giant signed a partnership with The company hopes to triple its business volume to €30 Darktrace to secure its cloud services, including The invisible giant billion by 2025, aiming to capture 10% of the European Microsoft 365 and Azure. The firm went public on 30 Car manufacturers Audi, Renault and Stellantis all (Extreme Ultra-Violet) machines, which are used by online fashion market, versus its current share of 2.4%. April, 2021. Its shares are trading at around £350, announced temporary factory shutdowns in 2021 due the best foundries worldwide (TSMC, Intel, Samsung, To do that, the German company will enter six new 40% higher than its IPO price of £250. to the semiconductor shortage. This crisis highlights etc.). In fact, ASML is taking full advantage of the markets this year (Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Registered office: Cambridge (UK) / Workforce: 1,500 / European industry’s dependence on Taiwanese found- higher global demand for semiconductors. Its revenue Slovakia, Slovenia), and two more in 2022 (Hungary Revenue (2020): $199.1 million ries (TSMC and UMC). But behind these giants is another hit €14 billion in 2020, up by almost 20% compared to and Romania). And to offset the growth of the Lithu- DARK giant, and it is European: ASML. The little known Dutch 2019. Most analysts recommend buying shares. anian unicorn Vinted (not listed on the stock exchange), company is the biggest success story in European tech. Registered office: Veldhoven (NL) / Workforce: 28,073 / Zalando launched a second-hand platform in late 2020. In comparison, ASML has a higher valuation on the stock Revenue (2020): €14 billion Most analysts recommend buying shares. exchange than Volkswagen, Siemens or Novartis. The ASML Registered office: Berlin (DE) / Workforce: 14,194 / company is the world’s only manufacturer of EUV Revenue (2020): €7.982 billion ZAL
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Co-founder and
BLUE PRISM ADYEN CEO of Adyen, the B A Dutchman Pieter J S van der Does, who T dreamt of becoming The RPA pioneer a professional surfer, Will humans soon be relieved of the most repetitive cultivates a relaxed computing tasks? That is what UK deep tech company look. Blue Prism has set out to do. Founded in 2001, it has developed a technology called Robotic Process Auto- mation (RPA), a term that has since been embraced by the entire sector. RPA software identifies the most repetitive human tasks and then reproduces them by itself – for example in finance, insurance and services. Big names such as Pfizer, Coca-Cola or Sony use Blue Prism software.
Still in its infancy, the RPA market is expected to reach TeamViewer’s CEO $13.74 billion by 2028, according to a report by the Oliver Steil (left) and California firm Grand View Research published last April, CFO Stefan Gaiser representing growth of 32.8% per year over the period. (right), with Joerg Rockenhaeuser (centre) Most analysts recommend buying shares in Blue Prism, of Permira fund, at an industry pioneer. But to impose itself the young TeamViewer’s IPO in ADYEN startup will have to face other startups: the Californian Frankfurt in 2019. Automation Anywhere, the French Contextor (bought by the German giant SAP in 2018) and especially UiPath. Rivalling Paypal Founded in Romania, UiPath would have placed high in Adyen’s capitalisation is more than twice that of This Dutch star boasts a portfolio of prestigious clients this ranking if it had not moved to the United States. Crédit Suisse: €57 billion. Quite impressive for a com- including Uber, Spotify and Booking.com. Driven by the Registered office: Warrington (UK) / Workforce: 1,000 / pany founded in 2006. The payment systems expert is pandemic, Adyen’s revenue grew 28% in 2020, to €684.2 Revenue (2020): £ 141.4 million enjoying the benefits society’s digital transformation, million. Most analysts recommend holding shares. Al- PRSM which means more payment methods: bank cards, of though Adyen has a head start, the competition is tough course, but also digital wallets (Apple Pay, WeChat with giants the likes of the French company Worldline, Pay) or Pay by Link, a tool for sending a secure pay- and US firms FIV and Stripe. The risk is that large cus- ment link by email, chat or SMS. To manage all these tomers switch to the enemy. In 2018, for example, eBay systems, merchants turn to so-called “omnichannel” left PayPal for Adyen.
TEAMVIEWER RALPH ORLOWSKI / REUTERS payment specialists such as Adyen. Registered office: Amsterdam (NL) / Workforce: 1,700 / SAP Revenue (2020): €684.2 million The all-in-one remote working solution ADYEN The SaaS giant The German state of Baden-Württemberg, bordering In the world’s top 10 cloud infrastructures, there is Switzerland, is known for being home to some of only one European player: the German software com- the biggest names in German manufacturing, such pany SAP, which Synergy Research places at number as Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Bosch. But the 10, far behind the American giants Amazon Web Ser- region is also home to a company that one might NOKIA JUST EAT TAKEAWAY vices, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. SAP is best instead imagine in Silicon Valley. Founded in 2005, known in cloud services for software as a service, or TeamViewer develops features to supervise remote The patient Finnish company The food delivery giant SaaS, a segment where it ranks fourth globally, behind work, including remote support, video conferencing The pandemic has not helped. Nokia is still struggling. Raging hunger? After merging with its UK competitor the US developers Microsoft, Oracle and IBM. Most an- and industrial site monitoring. The sector took off The Finnish equipment manufacturer went through a Just Eat in 2019, the meal delivery leader Takeaway. alysts recommend buying shares, which should benefit phenomenally during the pandemic. With more than difficult year in 2020, racking up losses of €2.4 billion, com bought the US service Grubhub in 2020 for $7.3 from the boom of the cloud: the European market of 1,880 corporate customers, the German firm saw against a small profit of €7 million in 2019. Now, time billion. Today, the company claims to be the “world’s the sector should more than quintuple from €53 billion its revenue jump 42% in 2020. TeamViewer’s com- for shock treatment. In March, Nokia announced that largest online food delivery company outside China”. in 2020 to between €300 and €500 billion by 2027- petitors include big names such as Zoom for video it would be shedding 5,000 to 10,000 jobs over the With business fuelled by the pandemic, Just Eat 2030, according to a report by KPMG published in conferencing, Slack for project management and next two years. The world’s third-largest 5G network Takeaway delivered 588 million orders in 2020, up 42% May 2021. Chrome Remote Desktop (Google) for the remote is lagging behind its rivals Huawei and Ericsson. Even from 2019. Most analysts recommend buying shares. Registered office: Weinheim (DE) / Workforce: 102,400 / desktop functionality. so, analysts recommend buying shares, which they Registered office: Amsterdam (NL) / Workforce: 9,000 / Revenue (2020): €27.34 billion Registered office: Göppingen (DE) / Workforce: 1,256 / currently consider undervalued. Revenue (2020): € 2.4 billion SAP Revenue (2020): €460 million Registered office: Espoo (FI) / Workforce: 92,000 / TKWY TMV Revenue (2020): €21.9 billion NOKIA
54 55 DIGITAL SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021 DIGITAL SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021
E S THE HUT GROUP C BLOOMBERG / GETTY T A The beauty expert N With 10.7 million new customers in 2020, The Hut Group (THG) has been able to expand as a result of the pandemic. Specialising in online cosmetics, the UK com- pany has become a major player in the beauty sector in just a few years. The group offers nearly 1,000 brands on its platform, including L’Occitane, Nuxe, L’Oréal and MAC, as well as its own products. To extend its range, THG buys promising small brands, including Eyeko in 2018 and Illamasqua in 2017. ERICSSON Registered office: Manchester (UK) / Workforce: 7,000 / Revenue (2020): £1.61 billion The 5G leader THG The setbacks experienced by Huawei, whose 5G infra- structure is banned in several countries, including the Michal Salát, United States and the United Kingdom, are creating Threat Intelligence Demo of the Director, at Avast. Cyberpunk 2077 business for Ericsson. Several operators have left the video game at Chinese company for the Swedish telecom equipment the E3 Electronic manufacturer, for example, Telefónica in Germany, Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, June 2019. British Telecom in the United Kingdom and Bell in CD PROJEKT Canada. As a result, Ericsson now holds 35% of the global 5G market (excluding China), far ahead of Nokia The studio punk (25%) and Huawei (20%), according to Dell’Oro. Most It was a genius move. In the mid-2000s, the small – to focus on a new project, Cyberpunk 2077. It was the analysts recommend buying shares. publisher CD Projekt bought the rights to adapt the The most hotly awaited video game release in 2020. Many Registered office: Stockholm (SE) / Workforce: 100,000 /
Witcher novel series by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski, of them would be disappointed due to the many bugs on Revenue (2020): €23 billion AVAST AVAST very popular in his country, into video games. And then? the console versions. In December, Sony even removed ERIC Its success went far beyond Poland’s borders. Re- the blockbuster from its PlayStation Store platform. The Czech antivirus software leased in 2015, The Witcher 3 sold more than 30 million And that is a rare decision in the industry. Since Some time ago, private ownership was banned in copies, making CD Projekt a worthy contender against then, CD Projekt’s share price has lost more than 60% the Czech Republic. In 1988, Alwil was founded as a the world’s big four video game companies (Ubisoft, of its value (between December 2020 and June 2021) cooperative, which was later renamed Avast. After Activision, Electronic Arts and Take-Two Interactive). and analysts cannot agree on what to do next. the fall of the Berlin Wall, the cooperative formed a Instead of further developing its game suite, CD Projekt Registered office: Warsaw (PL) / Workforce: 1,111 / company in 1991 and moved into antivirus software. set aside its star game – and only franchise Revenue (2020): €478 million The company was quite successful in its local CDR market when the second turning point in its history NEMETSCHEK took shape: in 2001, the American antivirus giant Symantec attacked the Czech market. To survive, The architect from Munich Avast completely changed its strategy and adopted SPOTIFY The German publisher is developing a range of 3D vis- a freemium model: its antivirus software became ualisation, modelling and animation software, covering free for individuals, and the company made money The exception from the north of giants Apple Music and Amazon Music. At the end of the entire life cycle of buildings. An approach called off a more complete premium version. Thanks to In tech, companies founded after the year 2000 valued 2020, the Swedish company counted 345 million users “Building Information Modelling”, or BIM, is spreading this visionary choice, the company nibbles away at at more than $50 billion are referred to as “Titans”. (up 27% in one year), far ahead of Amazon Music and fast in the building and public works sector. BIM is market share worldwide. Today, Avast claims more One of Europe’s problems is that it has too few Titans its 55 million subscribers (Apple stopped reporting its used by various professionals involved in a project to than 435 million users, or 12.69% of the global to compete with US and Chinese tech giants. Spotify number of users in 2019). The bad news comes from its share information and therefore manage costs better. market for Windows-based antivirus software, just stands out as an exception in this category. In June financial results: last year, Spotify made a loss of €581 Nemetschek boasts 6 million customers worldwide. behind the number one Symantec (13.16%), accord- 2020, the Swedish platform became Europe’s first million, versus €186 million a year earlier. Even so, most Most analysts recommend buying shares as the com- ing to Statista. Most analysts recommend buying Titan, since joined by Adyen (see p. 55). analysts recommend buying shares. pany is expected to benefit from the post-pandemic shares. stimulus plans. Registered office: Prague (CZ) / Workforce: 1,700 / Although its valuation has since fallen back below the Registered office: Stockholm (SE) / Workforce: 6,554 / Registered office: Munich (DE) / Workforce: 3,000 / Revenue (2020): $922 million symbolic $50 billion mark, Spotify can boast of being Revenue (2020): €7.88 billion Revenue (2020): €596.9 million AVST the world’s number one music streaming service, ahead SPOT NEM
56 57 DIGITAL SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021 D Auto1’s co-founder and CEO A Christian Bertermann (centre), DELIVEROO S Themes Trading CFO Markus Boser (left), and co-founder Hakan Koç (right) celebrate Auto1’s IPO in Diversifying deliveries Advertising Frankfurt in February 2021. Deliveroo’s IPO was supposed to be one of the success stories of the year. Unfortunately, the go-to home de- livery service had a troubled start on the London Stock Exchange in March, tumbling more than 25% on its first day of trading. How did that happen? New labour rules threaten its business model. Some countries, such as Spain, have adopted laws requiring delivery workers to be company employees. This is a difficult burden for a company that reported a deficit of £9.6 million in AUTO1 2020. Deliveroo plans to diversify through new revenue streams. The company has partnered with retail giant Carrefour to offer delivery of consumer goods in France, The online car dealer Belgium, Italy and Spain. Most analysts recommend Founded in 2012, Berlin-based startup Auto1 Group holding shares. bills itself as Europe’s largest online used car sales Registered office: London (UK) / Workforce: 2,300 / platform. And for good reason: since its founding, Revenue (2020): £4.1 billion Auto1 has experienced spectacular growth. Its ROO revenue rose from €128.5 million in 2014 to €3.476 trillion in 2019. The platform, which buys vehicles from individuals and then resells them to profes- A STEP AHEAD OF sionals throughout Europe, uses artificial intelli- gence to dig up the best deals available. However, AND ALSO... the firm’s tremendous growth has slowed with the pandemic, leading to an 18% drop in revenue DASSAULT SYSTÈMES HENSOLDT last year, to €2.8 billion. But that’s not enough to French software developer German company specialis- THE RISING PRICES turn investors away. In February 2021, it made a for industrial applications. ing in defence electronics. spectacular debut on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. DSY HAG Protect your portfolio Most analysts recommend buying shares. Registered office: Munich (DE) / Workforce: 4,165 / ELMOS SEMICONDUCTOR INFINEON and diversify your assets. Revenue (2019): €2.830 billion The German company World leader in auto chips, AG1 supplies integrated circuits the German firm is a suppli- In recent years, the consumer price index has stabilised for the automotive industry. er for Tesla. IFX while prices have increased. Thanks to the “Inflation ELG Trade” Certificate (available on the SIX Swiss Exchange), PVA TEPLA Swissquote enables you to invest in assets known NXP SEMICONDUCTORS German manufacturer in Certificate to perform well in inflationary environments and thus STMICROELECTRONICS Dutch semiconductor the semiconductor industry. Inflation Trade manufacturer, the world’s TPE protect your portfolio. Apple’s supplier second-largest producer ISIN Tesla, Apple, or SpaceX. STMicroelectronics, the of car chips. NXP AMS CH0587306967 Franco-Italian chip design champion based in Geneva, Austrian semiconductor flaunts an impressive array of customers. And the NFON company. AMS Symbol company is taking full advantage of the current context, German leader in cloud INFLTQ marked by increased demand against the backdrop of a PBX solutions. NFN X-FAB SILICON FOUNDRIES global semiconductor shortage. In April 2021, STMicro- Belgian semiconductor electronics announced its target of reaching $12 billion UBISOFT foundry. X-Fab in revenue by 2021, an 18% jump compared to 2020, French video game i.e. two years ahead of its previous plan. The forecast developer. UBI ASOS pleased analysts, who recommend buying shares. UK e-commerce platform. Registered office: Plan-les-Ouates (CH) / Workforce: 46,000 / TRUSTPILOT ASC Revenue (2020): $10.22 billion Danish consumer review STM platform. TRST swissquote.com/inflation
58 E-COMMERCE SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021 E-COMMERCE SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021
The Singapore-based ride-hailing and food delivery giant has overtaken Uber in Southeast Asia with solutions designed to fit the needs of each country.
BY JULIE ZAUGG, IN HONG KONG
t could be monumental. This into account the cultural diversity “This initial experience in the April, Singapore’s giant Grab, of Southeast Asia and chose to con- Malaysian market taught the compa- aka the “Asian Uber”, announced centrate initially on Malaysia. With ny valuable lessons from the field, Iits plans to list on Wall Street in the $25,000 in funding from Harvard and which later helped it expand into the next few months by merging with the a loan from his mother, he launched rest of Southeast Asia,” Cespedes investment fund Altimeter Growth. a ride-hailing app called MyTeksi. “He says. Shortly afterwards, MyTeksi Grab Expected to close by the end of wanted to create a platform where moved its headquarters to Singapore July, the deal estimates the value of passengers – especially women – and earned the support of Japan’s the company at nearly $40 billion, Softbank, which injected $3 billion Local wins making it one of the largest stock into the company in 2014. market listings ever by a Southeast Asian group. The company’s next step was “In Indonesia’s big growth beyond Malaysia’s borders, How did the company, founded in first in the Philippines, then in 2011, become such a powerhouse cities, you need Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, in just a decade? It all began back motorcycles instead Indonesia, Cambodia and Japan. at Harvard between two Malaysian of cars to avoid get- Since renamed Grab, the firm has students, Anthony Tan and Tan a well-oiled MO: it recruits cab driv- Hooi Ling. “At the time, everyone ting stuck in traffic ers at airports and depots, lending swore by Uber-like business mod- for three hours” them a smartphone so that they els,” recalls Frank Cespedes, the Varun Mittal, emerging markets fintech can immediately access the app. Harvard Business School professor leader in Southeast Asia at Ernst & Young who supervised the pair’s project. Every time it moves into a new “The implicit assumption was that market, Grab adapts to local condi- if a company got to a market first, tions. “The realization that Southeast it would have such a competitive Asia is made up of a multitude of advantage that it could immediately could find a licensed cab driver who very diverse contexts – from large, expand into adjacent markets.” wouldn’t risk assaulting them,” says ultra-developed megacities to remote Chua Kee Lock, CEO of the Singapore rural areas – has been key to Grab’s Unlike the US giant Uber, which investment fund Vertex Holdings, success,” says William Bao Bean, applies the same formula wherever it which first invested $15 million in a partner from the venture capital goes, Anthony Tan believes in taking the startup in 2013. firm SOSV.
IN NUMBERS
25 M +42% 200 M $39.6 BN The number of unique Expected annual increase The number of The forecast valuation A delivery man users on Grab, i.e. in sales between 2021 Southeast Asia’s of the company when from GrabFood, a subsidiary of Grab customers who have and 2023. The company’s unbanked residents it is listed on the Holdings, picks up bought at least one net revenue grew who could benefit New York Stock an order in a res service on its platform. 70% last year. from Grab’s financial Exchange in July. taurant in Jakarta, services. Indonesia, in April
2021. DIMAS ARDIAN / GETTY IMAGES
60 61 E-COMMERCE SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021 E-COMMERCE SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021
side the Grab ecosystem, similar to China’s WeChat Pay and Alipay. The company has also developed loan and insurance solutions. In Decem- ber 2020, Grab was one of the four ORE HUIYING / GETTY IMAGES
NHAC NGUYEN / GETTY IMAGES companies awarded a digital banking licence in Singapore.
“Grab created an original model of selling its financial products first to the restaurants and drivers in its network, that were struggling to get this type of service from banks,” Chua Kee Lock says. Fees are automatically deducted from their earnings on the app.
Although it is now considered to be Southeast Asia’s leading superapp, Grab is not without competitors. “China’s ride-hailing market is dominated by Didi Chuxing, and in Indonesia, Gojek is a strong compet- itor,” Robson Lee says. “Then there Grab’s Singapore are local delivery specialists and taxi offices where the company moved companies.” In Vietnam and Thailand, its headquarters Grab has had run-ins with some of in 2014. these local operations, forcing it to suspend some of its services. By expanding its delivery and financial areas in terms of transportation and lion. Bain & Co forecasts that the services, the company also risks food delivery, especially in secondary digital economy as a whole will grow Founded in 2011, Grab treading on the turf of e-commerce cities in Indonesia, the Philippines three times in size to $309 billion. operates in Singapore, groups Shoppee and Lazada. and Vietnam, he says. “Southeast Asia today looks much Cambodia, Indonesia, like China did 15 years ago,” says Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Food delivery sales in Southeast Asia William Bao Bean. If Grab plays its Thailand and Vietnam. are expected to double to $21 billion cards right, it has the potential to Here, a Grab delivery “Southeast Asia by 2025, while on-demand taxi reve- become the WeChat or Alibaba of man in Hanoi, Viet nue should triple in value to $16 bil- the continent’s southern region. nam, in May 2021. today looks much like China did 15 years ago” ANALYST ADVICE William Bao Bean, a partner from “In Indonesia’s big cities, you need A new milestone was reached in food delivery. Its customers can the venture capital firm SOSV “THE ON-DEMAND TAXI SERVICE IS ALREADY PROFITABLE” motorcycles instead of cars to avoid March 2018, when Uber gave up in also have their groceries delivered getting stuck in traffic for three Southeast Asia and sold its opera- and subscribe to a private concierge Grab expects its sales to triple from $12.5 billion hours,” says Varun Mittal, emerging tions to Grab, with which it had been system, which allows it to optimise in 2020 to $34 billion within the next three years. But the company is still generating losses, totalling markets fintech leader in Southeast competing since the startup was cre- the activity rate of its drivers: 59% NEW ALIBABA IN THE MAKING $800 million last year. Both Moody’s and S&P expect Asia at Ernst & Young. “And if we ated. “This shift in fortune gave Grab of the motorcycles working for Grab Varun Mittal, however, believes that to continue until at least 2023. However, some had chosen only to accept card technologies and know-how beyond cover both deliveries and passenger there will be room for everyone. As segments are already profitable. “The on-demand taxi payments, we would have cut our- its historical on-demand taxi-focused transport. he points out, “Southeast Asia is service broke even last year, and food delivery, which selves off from nearly 75% of the business model,” notes Robson Lee home to 670 million people, i.e., half saw revenues sky-rocket during the pandemic, is market.” Grab therefore allowed its from Gibson Dunn, an expert in South- BANKING LICENCES of China’s population. Seven out of expected to do so by the end of the year,” says Chua Kee customers to pay in cash and relied east Asian industrial operations. Its most recent foray is into financial 10 people still don’t have access Lock, CEO of the Singapore investment fund Vertex on ojek, those motorcycle taxis that services. The GrabPay mobile wallet, to financial services.” With a young Holdings. He believes that the $4.5 billion raised through the IPO should also enable Grab to expand slalom between cars in Indonesia The takeover of UberEats then gave launched in late 2016, can now be population of smartphone users, the its financial services, a segment with the highest and Vietnam. Grab the opportunity to launch into used to make purchases, even out- region also has many underserved potential for profitability. GRAB
62 63 SWISS STARTUPS SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021 SWISS STARTUPS SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021
MYCAMPER SWISS STARTUPS AIRBNB FOR MOTORHOMES Camping has become tremendously popular in this period of reduced mobility, and that popularity is not IN THIS EDITION about to wane. MyCamper.ch, a platform that lets BASEL private individuals rent out their leisure vehicle, is one BY GRÉGOIRE NICOLET of the startups benefiting from it the most. This success was confirmed as the website slid into 51st position in the Financial Times ranking of Europe’s 1,000 fastest growing companies (March 2021).
Its founder and CEO Michele Matt is optimistic about the post-pandemic outlook: “Camping meets people’s needs for local, sustainable travel. This market already had annual growth of 10% to 15% before the coronavi- rus.” And the Basel-based startup has high ambitions, having recently invested 550,000 Swiss francs in its Number of LAUSANNE Swedish counterpart Housecar. It aspires to build the employees largest leisure vehicle sharing service in the Scandi- 28 navian countries, the region where flygskam, or flight GENEVA Founded shaming, all began. 2015 PRIVATEDEAL NEGOTIATE YOUR HOTEL BOOKINGS NEUROSOFT BIOELECTRONICS PrivateDeal attacks major online reservation websites NEXT-GENERATION NEURAL IMPLANTS such as Booking.com head on. The Lausanne startup goes against the grain by offering hotels a solution Thanks to modern science, electrodes can be im- that they can integrate directly into their website to planted in the body to stimulate the nervous system. negotiate prices with their guests in real time. How This technique can be used to relieve chronic pain or does it work? Customers have access to a dash- treat epilepsy. But Neurosoft Bioelectronics has taken board, where they register the maximum price they the technology a leap forward. The EPFL spin-off are prepared to pay for a room. The hotel can then try develops more flexible, elastic implants to interface to adjust its offer based on occupancy rates. With its better with human tissue and integrate more smoothly solution on the market since 2017, the company’s cus- into the body. These electronic devices can be placed tomers include the Swiss Deluxe Hotels alliance and on the surface of the brain or spinal cord without risk the HotelREZ group, which covers marketing for more of damage. than 1,500 hotels. Having already taken home several awards, the start- Operating out of the Innovation Village within the École up is one of five finalists for the Strategis 2021 prize Hôtelière de Lausanne hospitality management school, (HEC Lausanne). The winner will be announced in Sep- the startup won a prize for digital solutions organ- tember. Next year will be pivotal, confirms CEO Nicolas ised by the Valais-based programme Digitourism. Its Vachicouras, “In Switzerland, we plan to launch clinical booking solution also received a favourable nod from trials on humans at Geneva and Lausanne University the European Patent Office, and international approval Hospitals in early 2022, and clearance from the US Number of is expected for 2022. Already active in nearly 35 Number of Food and Drug Administration is expected in the sec- employees countries, PrivateDeal does not plan to stop at hotels. employees ond half of the year.” The young company is currently 14 “We’re thinking about how to adapt our solution to 6 finalising its manufacturing line for medical implants Founded other business sectors, for example luxury goods and at Campus Biotech in Geneva and hopes to raise 12 airlines,” says co-founder Isabelle Maugin. Founded million Swiss francs by the end of the third quarter. 2017 2020
64 65 STOCK EXCHANGE SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021 STOCK EXCHANGE SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021 FRED MERZ / LUNDI 13
AAPL. NESN. TSLA. Stock symbols are referred to by the same ticker, giving ing company of the maximum symbol magazine showed that on-trend or ubiquitous in business and financial them a certain allure of dominance. length and possible combinations,” easily memorable stock symbols news. These unique series of letters, Although computer systems made says Julian Chan, deputy head of media such as PZZA, YUM or LEVI appreci- All about numbers, or a combination of the two telegraph communication of stock relations at SIX. SIX then checks the ated by an average of 17.5% per year are assigned to identify a publicly values obsolete in the 1960s, stock availability of the chosen symbol. over five years, compared to only traded stock. The combinations are symbols have remained the universal The number of letters used varies 3.7% for single-letter companies. not chosen haphazardly; they follow a way of identifying shares listed on depending on the exchange and the few rules. Below are three questions the stock exchange. country: between one and four letters In 2006, researchers at Princeton tickers for further clarification. in the United States, while in Europe it University had already pointed to These symbols, sometimes obscure in is three or four. On Asian exchanges, this psychological bias, which was meaning, stand for listed companies and are OW DID STOCK SYMBOLS OW ARE THEY ASSIGNED? symbols are often composed only of particularly noticeable in the days essential to any investor trading on the stock START? The exact procedures for numbers, to avoid the many problems following an IPO. They found that, out market. We take a closer look. Stock tickers emerged with choosing symbols differ on inherent in transcribing local alphabets of $1,000 invested during an IPO, the Hthe use of the telegraph. Abbreviat- Heach stock exchange, but tickers are into Latin letters. 10 companies with the most palata- BY MARTIN LONGET ing company names made it easier generally left up to their issuer, i.e. the ble names to pronounce raised $333 to communicate their share prices in company preparing to list its shares. more than the 10 companies with the real time. The symbols were used for Their proposals are then approved by O SYMBOLS INFLUENCE most unpronounceable symbols. the first time in the United States in the stock exchange where the share PRICES? 1867, by an employee of the Ameri- will be listed. Sometimes a company Choosing combinations that And companies are well aware of can Telegraph Company, and Thomas already listed on the stock exchange Dare easy to remember, or even mean- this bias. In fact, the SEC finally had Edison standardised the process in changes its symbol, most often when ingful, often pays off in the long to take action in the United States 1871. To send information faster, it changes its name or at the time of run. Studies have shown that fun or and create a special body in 2008, and save money, the most common- a merger or acquisition. trendy symbols tend to perform bet- the Intermarket Symbols Reservation ly traded stocks were assigned a ter than series that are abstruse or Authority, thereby stopping spec- single letter, such as T for AT&T and For companies listed on the Swiss difficult to pronounce. For example, ulators from reserving and buying F for Ford. These US giants are still stock exchange, “SIX informs the issu- a 2019 study by Barron’s business high-potential symbols.
66 67 FREE TIME SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021
NETFLIP TINDER FOR MOVIES TO READ, Netflip lets couples that can’t decide App Store, what to watch on Saturday night swipe TO DOWNLAOD Google Play, through films and series. Each sug- Free gestion made by one partner and liked by the other is a match. Therefore, a selection, and an evening, both partners can enjoy. MADOFF TALKS UNCOVERING THE UNTOLD STORY BEHIND THE MOST NOTORIOUS PONZI SCHEME IN HISTORY By Jim Campbell SAMOURAI WALLET With the passing of the orchestrator of ULTRA-SECURE BITCOIN the largest fraud scheme of all time this WALLET April, at age 82 in a North Carolina pris- Google Play, Samourai Wallet is probably the most Free complete mobile bitcoin wallet on the McGraw-Hill on, Madoff Talks comes at a perfect time Education, 2021 to try to solve the mystery surrounding market. Users concerned about protecting CHF 45.- Bernie Madoff. Based on exclusive their data will love this privacy-focused conversations with close relations and app and its wide range of security fea- family members of this figure of New tures, such as anonymity by carrying out York finance, the book delves deep into transactions through Tor or a VPN. the inner workings of the Madoff affair, as well as the circumstances that led to the notorious crook operating for decades unchecked right under the WATERIA nose of SEC inspectors. FOR PLANT LOVERS As the weather warms, people return to Google Play, their balcony gardens until they get bored Free SUPER FOUNDERS or tired, and their neglected new plants end up dying due to insufficient care or WHAT DATA REVEALS ABOUT THE BEST BILLION-DOLLAR STARTUPS water. Wateria helps users stay focused, By Ali Tamaseb offering care tips suited to each type of plant and regular watering reminders. WINES ARE What sets successful tech startups THE ONES WE apart from other companies? How can we explain why some make it and so DRINK WITH BIRDNET many others don’t? To get an answer, FRIENDS. Public Affairs, 2021 the author of Super Founders compiled SHAZAM FOR BIRDS CHF 30.- and compared a broad dataset covering What on earth is the name of that bird diverse factors: number of competitors, App Store, we always hear singing through the sum- market size, founder age and education Google Play, mer season? What species produces that level, and type of investor. And the find- Free melodious, repetitive warble, which gets ings are astonishing, often contradicting a bit annoying after a while? Chances are commonly held beliefs. For example, BirdNET knows, thanks to its database most unicorn founders had no previous of more than 3,000 bird species from experience in the tech industry. Also, the Northern Hemisphere. Just send more than half of the startups were your query by playing a recording of the up against long-standing competitors birdsong you want to identify. in their industry before starting opera- tions, meaning that the business did not emerge from a novel concept.
ORDER HERE BY 68 AND CHEERS! SWISSQUOTE SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021 SWISSQUOTE SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021
What advantages does Yuh What do we have to do to become have over traditional banks? a Yuh customer?
Our 3-in-1 model (pay, save, invest) Yuh can be downloaded from Apple’s Advertising makes it a unique solution on the App Store, Google Play or Huawei Swiss financial market. But also, the AppGallery. It’s very easy for Swissquote interface is simple and user-friendly. and PostFinance customers to open an Not to mention the low-to-no-fees account. It only takes a few minutes, concept: low or even no fees whenever and no additional documents are possible. When fees apply, we explain required. The procedure is also very why as clearly and simply as we can. simple for new customers, and you do it from the app. You need a form of iden- A new cryptocurrency, Swissqoin, tification, electronic signature and an was launched at the same time initial deposit to activate the account. as Yuh. How can we take advan- tage of that? MARKUS SCHWAB You can get Swissqoins by using Yuh. CEO YUH INTERVIEW Each action (first deposit of 500 Swiss francs on the account, referral, trad- ing, etc.) earns you a set number of Swissqoins. Users can also trade the “WE NEVER EXPECTED tokens with one another. And that’s not all: Yuh will regularly invest a percent- age of its revenue in the cryptocurren- SUCH AN OVERWHELMING cy, so the value can go no other way but up. It’s a way of sharing the app’s RESPONSE” success with the community. Yuh, the app co-designed by Swissquote and PostFinance celebrates its successful launch at the end of May. In just a few weeks, Yuh has surpassed the 15,000 subscriber mark. CEO Markus Schwab presents an initial assessment and the YUH, THE 3-IN-1 APP app’s key features.
Find all information at Yuh was officially launched in May. Were you surprised by What feedback have you received the reaction? YUH.COM from the first users? To be honest, we never expected such The feedback has been very enthusiastic an overwhelming number of people – from the media, influencers and cus- to register so soon after the launch. SCAN TO DOWNLOAD THE APP tomers alike. People consistently find it This confirmed our belief that the app easy to use, and appreciate its original reflects genuine customer demand concept and low fees. Three weeks and truly meets the expectations Pay Save Invest after its launch, the app already had of today’s world. This initial success • Free multi-currency debit • Create custom saving projects • 100+ stocks to choose from more than 10,000 users. It’s a remarka- motivates us to continuously enhance Mastercard to reach your goals ble performance compared with other and improve our product. And I’d like • Thematic investment alternatives neobank launches from our competitors. to take this opportunity to thank and • 12 currencies pre-installed • Set up standing orders or make • 13 cryptocurrencies available 24/7 It took them a lot longer to reach that congratulate all the people who were • Instant payments between occasional deposits threshold. involved on the project. app users • Money available 24/7
70 71 AUTO SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021 AUTO SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021
drivers of the ID.3, Volkswagen’s the qualities of this vehicle, such Unlike a famous Californian brand, electric compact car, had experi- as its silhouette, which is truly Volkswagen does not make ac- enced similar mishaps. On forums, elegant. The ID.4 scores high on celeration capabilities a priority. we also discovered an endless many criteria that are important to The 204 hp delivered by the single list of software problems encoun- families. As with most models with rear axle is enough to move the tered at the beginning of the year 100% electric genes, the vehicle vehicle vigorously, without causing by new ID.4 users, including bugs features a generous interior and a shudder (a GTX sports version in the infotainment system and lovely feeling of spaciousness on with two engines, four-wheel drive navigation, malfunctions in the board, an impression enhanced by and a total of 299 hp has been driver assistance system, problems the glass roof on our test model. The presented and will be available in when charging, and even black exterior dimensions remain reason- the autumn). Focus has been more screens while the car is running. able (462 cm long), allowing it to on comfort, soundproofing and a weave through the city effortlessly. smooth ride, and successfully so. A few days after our test, Without quite reaching the level Volkswagen explained to us, of a BMW iX3 in these registers, through its slightly embarrassed the Volkswagen SUV gives the PR manager for Switzerland, that impression of a mastered score. the workshop had checked the car Focus has been and found a defective part (the more on comfort, The ID.4 includes all the driver famous selector), and that “so soundproofing assistance features that a model far on the ID.4, they’ve only heard of this calibre should offer in 2021. of isolated cases of damage”. In and a smooth And it does that quite well. More a second message, we were told ride unusual is that some of the infor- that the press car “did not have the mation on the head-up display is latest software update”, assuring displayed several metres in front of us however that, “all new vehicles the driver’s eyes, making it possi- delivered in Switzerland today are The 520 km range is decent for an ble to provide real-time navigation AUTO automatically updated.” Volkswagen SUV of this size, although this ob- assistance, truly superimposed is also planning regular software viously does not apply to a motor- on the decor. Nice and practical, Electrical setbacks updates – which is a good thing. way-only trip, which sucks up much provided that the navigation works... One might almost forget to mention more power on an electric vehicle. See you in a few months?
The German SUV ticks most of the boxes to come out a winner, but its perfectible ergonomics and software bugs keep it from taking home the gold. Our test drive.
BY LUDOVIC CHAPPEX
e had no intention of say- vestiges of physical buttons. Most Wing anything bad about the of these buttons offer haptic or touch VOLKSWAGEN ID.4 2021 World Car of the Year. But functionality, but unfortunately here is how it is. Its teething they are not very responsive. Ah, MOTOR: problems made our experience that cursed steering wheel full of ELECTRIC 204 HP – 150 KW behind the wheel a bit risky. asthenic controls that we rarely AUDI Q4, THE PREMIUM OPTION FORD MUSTANG MACH-E, THE ECCENTRIC AMERICAN MODEL BATTERY: (and often unintentionally) press! 77 KWH In all honesty, we were annoyed One of the strengths of the Volkswagen group is that While the Tesla Model Y SUV is still not available in RANGE: before we even got going... Finding Once we got used to the ID.4, we it can use the same production platform for several Europe, Ford has decided to occupy the spot. Avail- 520 KM (WLTP) a function as basic as navigation thought that the best was yet brands. The Audi Q4 thus inherits the same technical able for order on the Swiss website, the new Mustang
TRANSMISSION: THE ALTERNATIVES base as the ID.4, but is packaged to Audi standards. Mach-E is a solid proposal, in two- or four- wheel drive – because we couldn’t find the to come. Unfortunately, our test The finishings go a notch higher, featuring more versions. Ford states a range of up to 610 km. PROPULSION access to the interface menu – was model, haunted by a recalcitrant custom options. A 299 hp 4WD model is available, From CHF 49,560.- PRICE: a feat from the start. Volkswagen’s gear selector, was stuck for long as well as a Sportback version. Skoda’s electric SUV CHF 63,300.- (MAX) new SUV doesn’t shine in terms minutes at a red light in the middle is the Enyak iV. From CHF 47,800.- of ergonomics, mixing touch tech- of Geneva, among other places. A nology (via a centre screen) with later internet search revealed that
72 73 SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021 TRAVEL SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021
TRAVEL César Manrique’s Lanzarote The Canary Islands are notorious for being overrun with tourists. Not Lanzarote though. This volcanic island owes the preserved natural beauty of its lunar landscape to an environmentalist artist.
BY SALOMÉ KINER
Spain he seven gems that make up the to move back to the island that never left his Canary Islands, an archipelago off heart, and haunted his childhood memories. the coast of Morocco, include one He was an environmentalist before that was a that has long been considered the thing. It was 1966. From then on, his life work Tblack sheep: Lanzarote. Nicknamed the “stone became completely intertwined with the herit- raft” by Portuguese writer José Saramago, age of his native land, Lanzarote, recognised by this island carved out of volcanic lava has a UNESCO as a “Biosphere Reserve” in 1993. LANZAROTE population of 150,000 scattered across less than 900 square kilometres. Today, Lanzarote César Manrique’s plan was simple, but auda- is an example of an astutely balanced land cious back in the day. The early 1970s was use policy that respects its environment. This when the first complexes were being designed exceptional history is the culmination of the to accommodate mass tourism. A lover of the dream and aura of one man. A painter, sculptor natural profile and volcanic landscape of his and visionary architect, who devoted the last island, the artist sensed the potential devas- 20 years of his life to reshaping Lanzarote. tation the budding industry could wreak. That is when he developed his motto of arte/nat- Born in 1919 in Arrecife, the capital of uraleza: art in nature, nature in art. He would Lanzarote, César Manrique first studied continuously work around that concept to urban planning before attending the Royal encourage politicians and inhabitants to take Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid. He joined the action. By the time he passed away in 1992, non-figurative art movement, showed his works he had accomplished his task. Lanzarote had all over the world and settled in New York City. preserved its captivating charm, sculpted out Close to Spanish artist Antoni Tapiès and the of the rough, dramatic beauty of its rugged informalists, at the age of nearly 50 he decided ISTOCK terrain.
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and which appeared hostile to any JAMEOS DEL AGUA human activity. GETTING THERE Only 10 kilometres separate the bo- man closer to being one with nature. Direct flights from Zurich from As he approached, Manrique noticed tanical garden from the spectacular It was also here that, drawing on the 400 Swiss francs round trip. that the tree had grown in a volca- site of Jameos del Agua. White, az- volcanic formations dating back mil- nic cavity formed by a gas bubble. ure, green and black come together lions of years, he built a restaurant, He soon discovered four other to honour César Manrique’s favour- a bar, and further on a concert hall similar formations, and decided that ite mix of colours, and his artistic with rare acoustics. WHERE TO EAT El Diablo he wanted to build his house there. genius that never ceased to bring Nestled in the heart of “The Convinced that his project was Mountains of Fire”, otherwise impossible, the landowner gifted known as Timanfaya National Park, Manrique with the three hectares this restaurant with its circular that he wanted. Two years later, he design by César Manrique offers unveiled his installation: an upper breathtaking views of the geysers. floor in line with the island’s tradi- Some dishes are still cooked using tional architecture, but featuring a the natural heat from the rock on The César Manrique few modern touches, such as the the site. Foundation, housed generous windows for endlessly in the spectacular daydreaming while overlooking the La Puerta Verde home where the amazing panorama. On the lower In the palm grove of Haría, this artist lived for
HEMIS VIA AFP is the last village where César 20 years. floor, Manrique connected the vol- canic bubbles to each other through Manrique lived, with many of his tunnels dug into the lava. Visitors works still located within the TARO DE TAHÍCHE stroll through this extraordinary perimeter. space, struck by the sharp contrast To appreciate how much Lanzarote César Manrique Foundation. Legend of the basalt against the whitewash owes to César Manrique, you should has it that the fragrant scent of a and bougainvillea flowers, to WHERE TO STAY start by visiting the place he lived fig tree and its vibrant green leaves stumble upon the swimming pool, Melia Salinas for 20 years, Taro de Tahíche, drew the artist’s attention to this dance floor and the artist’s studio. This hotel rounds out the total which in English means the “Hut lava field, formed from eruptions The latter has since been converted immersion into the work of César of Tahíche”. Today it is home to the that date back to the 18th century into an exhibition space. Manrique, as the artist designed its La Cueva restaurant, 1,800 square metre seawater pool designed by complex. César Manrique. Starting at 200 Swiss francs per night HEMIS VIA AFP for two people. melia.com
CACTUS GARDEN IN TEGUISE Buenavista Lanzarote HOUSE-MUSEUM IN To carry on the environmental- ist spirit of César Manrique, this The cactarium in the north of THE PALM GROVE The cactus garden, ecolodge offers five luxurious but Lanzarote is the last work by north of the island. simple and tastefully decorated César Manrique. The garden is a Also in the north of the island, in rooms in the heart of the Géria perfect example of his keen sense the middle of volcanic fields that biosphere reserve. of detail and desire to blend his stretch as far as the eye can see, Starting at 200 Swiss francs per night creations into the local landscape. stands the green oasis of Haría, a vil- for two people. Located in a former quarry, this am- lage bordered by a palm grove where César Manrique buenavistalanzarote.es phitheatre-shaped garden features a new tree was planted every time a more than 4,500 specimens from child was born there. This is where César Manrique (24 April, COVID UPDATE around the world. Their incredible César Manrique fell for a farmhouse 1919 – 25 September, The César Manrique Founda- shapes and sizes provide a surreal in ruins, spotted in the 1970s and 1992) was a Spanish tion has been closed since the walk to the last windmill on the refurbished 15 years later. We find painter, architect and beginning of the pandemic. To island. A shout out to the gargantu- there his trademark, his taste and sculptor. A defender of find out when it will reopen, go an agaves and aloe veras. Take the his talent for anachronistic com- the nature of his native to fcmanrique.org or turismo- opportunity to visit the Teguise mar- binations: embellishing traditional island, Lanzarote, he lanzarote.com. ket, the most popular on the island, local techniques by adding a touch of decisively influenced its which takes place every Saturday modern architecture, noble materials image. morning. and quality furniture. FONDATION CESAR MANRIQUE FONDATION
76 77 SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021 BOUTIQUE SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021
SMART BOTTLE
Winner of the 2020 Red Dot Produce Design Award, LIZ, BOUTIQUE the Noerden smart bottle, does so much more than keep coffee warm or water chilled. This isothermic bottle features a UV sterilisation system that destroys 99.9% of bacteria and harmful viruses. The touch responsive lid activates this function and displays your drink tem- perature as well as reminders to stay hydrated. noerden.eu From CHF 75.-
INFLATABLE SAILBOAT
Tiwal 3 is a two-seater inflatable sailboat with an aluminium exoskeleton and a carbon mast. Developed by French designer Marion Excoffon, the curious vessel is adapted for use at sea. What’s so special about it? It can be assembled without tools in 20 minutes flat and, once deflated, it fits in two bags that fit in the boot of a passenger car. tiwal.com From CHF 6,300.-
CARRY-ANYWHERE BED
For a bit more comfort while camping, the English brand Bundle Beds has designed a compact sleeping bag that includes a self-inflating mattress, pillow, hydrophobic duvet, along with a pillowcase and sheets. Weighing 6.5 kg, this portable bed can be folded and unfolded in no time. Notably, the different parts are attached to each other to keep your feet from poking out in the middle of the night, but they can be separated for easy maintenance. bundlebeds.com CHF 279.-
SUSTAINABLE SWIMMING FARMING TOWER
The young Lausanne-based label Do you want to grow herbs, green CONNECTED SOLAR WATCH Shark Rebellion has taken up the vegetables and fruit on your balcony, challenge of designing swimwear while optimising your floor space? that combines eco-responsibility The French startup Home Potager Tissot’s T-Touch Connect Solar and performance. Developed and has created a vertical garden, which watch uses solar power to charge tested by elite swimmers from includes 12 to 18 growing pots. The via photovoltaic sensors under top Swiss clubs, Shark Rebel- solution provides automatic watering the dial. In addition to the usual lion’s swimming costumes are with added nutrients and water level KEEPING YOUR SNEAKERS CLEAN functions (calendar, stopwatch, made entirely from fishing nets notifications based on the needs of chronograph, weather, altimeter, recovered from the oceans by each plant. The connected garden is For fashionistas and other collectors, Philips has come out with Sneaker etc.), this tactile timepiece the NGO Healthy Seas, to which self-sufficient for up to four weeks Cleaner, a device specially designed to care for your sneakers. Sold with features an activity tracker and the startup donates a portion of and can produce 50 kg to 100 kg of three brush heads suited to different materials (leather, rubber, suede, PVC notifies its wearer of messages its profits. vegetables per year. or fabric), the device takes up hardly any more space in the closet than a and calls. sharkrebellion.com homepotager.fr manual brush and makes little noise. tissotwatches.com From CHF 35.- From CHF 537.- philips.ch From CHF 995.- CHF 33.-
78 79 TRIED AND TESTED SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021 THE BEST Advertising TRIED AND TESTED OF SWISSQUOTE MINING CRYPTO- CURRENCY BY GÉRARD DUCLOS AND POSTFINANCE With sky-rocketing cryptocurrency prices, is cryptocurrency mining profitable for individual investors? Our columnist tried, and then tested it, for you. IN ONE APP
ntil very recently, everyone proof of stake in coming months, a RTX 1080 Ti GPU based cards, Here's Yuh: the most complete Swiss unanimously agreed that for method of mining based on stakes, which should generate between $7 app for paying, saving and investing. U the private individual, mining which will make the current proof- and $10 each per day, according to Shutterstock cryptocurrencies in Switzerland of-work mining method through whattomine.com, a reference site All with no account fees and a free was a wasteful venture, as the calculations impossible. To get for calculating the profitability of multi-currency card. cost of machines and electricity far everything you need to mine Ether mining. All that was left to do was exceeded any potential rewards. in May 2021 entails a considerable to order a motherboard that could financial risk, and the return on accommodate multiple graphics That was before crypto pric- investment is far from guaranteed. cards and a high power supply. es soared in recent months. So what is really going on when the A few days later, we had finally price of Ether has multiplied 3.5 put the beast together, ready to times since the beginning of the work relentlessly. The soft hum year (value at end-May 2021)? of the graphics cards – two large We managed to nego- blocks covered with fluorescent From a practical point of view, tiate two Nvidia RTX LEDs and cables – is now our nothing has fundamentally changed. 1080 Ti GPU based ever-present background noise. For individuals, the only valid option cards, which should remains to mine Ether with the most Technically, it is a matter of down- powerful graphics cards possible. generate between $7 loading a mining software and On the other hand, profitability has and $10 each per day joining a “pool” on the internet, i.e. a shot up in the last few months. A group of miners who combine their powerful graphics card can now strengths and pay their members bring in between $10 and $15 per in proportion to their contribution. day, and the most powerful cards up Let’s say that despite all that, As we are purists, we also opt for to $20. However, the cost it takes you have made the decision to a specialised Linux distribution to power the system 24 hours a try it out and buy a mining de- to optimise the returns and the day should also be factored in. vice. However, there is one prob- power consumption of our rig. lem. There is currently a global Furthermore, the profitability of min- shortage in the graphics cards After a few hours of configuration ing remains extremely volatile and industry, and it is practically and fine-tuning, the system is finally can collapse at any time depending impossible to get new ones. Or functional and running at full power. on the price of Ether and the number you can, but at insane prices. On the screen, the mined Ether of transactions on the Ethereum thousandths are slowly but surely blockchain, from which the fees are So we started looking around accumulating. Now all we have to do paid to miners. Not to mention that second-hand websites, where we is wait 170 days at the current rate Ether is expected to transition to managed to negotiate two Nvidia to make the purchase profitable... yuh.com
80 AP_Swissquote_CODE_26393NR_RubberBlackMen_SF_200x260.indd 1 RAISED RAISED AROUND THE WORLD BORN IN LE BRASSUS AUDEMARS PIGUET BOUTIQUES : ZURICH | GENEVA 04.06.21 15:56
SWISSQUOTE N°3 JULY 2021 TECH: THE OLD CONTINENT STRIKES BACK WWW.SWISSQUOTE.COM