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 TECH: THE OLD CONTINENT STRIKES BACK STRIKES BACK 25 companies under the microscope ASML ZALANDO DARKTRACE BLUE PRISM ALLEGRO SPOTIFY ADYEN SWISSQUOTE N°3 JULY 2021 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. These initiatives are united under the label Blancpain Ocean Commitment. RAISE AWARENESS, TRANSMIT OUR PASSION, HELP PROTECT THE OCEAN RUE DU RHÔNE 40 · 1204 GENEVA · TEL. +41 (0)22 312 59 39 BAHNHOFSTRASSE 28 · PARADEPLATZ · 8001 ZURICH · TEL. +41 (0)44 220 11 80 ©Photograph: Laurent Ballesta/Gombessa Project ©Photograph: Laurent www.blancpain-ocean-commitment.com EDITORIAL SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021 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 Hublot_Swissquote_BBIntTit_200x260.indd 3 05.02.21 16:21 SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021 CONTENTS SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021 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 8 9 SCANS SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021 SCANS SWISSQUOTE JULY 2021 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.