Crowd investment platform Foxstone raises CHF 10 million

Foxstone is a crowd investment platform that brings together investors and allows them to jointly acquire investment properties. The company also provides equity loans to finance real estate development projects. It provides a turnkey service from property and project selection to monitoring and management. All processes are fully digitised and can be completed online with just a few clicks. The platform, which brings together more than 15,000 investors, has achieved a transaction volume of over CHF 150 million since its creation in 2018.

First-class investors including Rosablanche and Vaudoise

Thierry Baudon and his wife Isabelle Schirmer have a long history in private equity and venture capital and are co-founders of Rosablanche Ventures, a company dedicated to the financing of Swiss start-ups which led this financing round. The Vaudoise Insurance Group, a long-standing shareholder of Foxstone and a prominent corporate player in Switzerland, is increasing its equity stake for the third time in a row. Naef Holding, a renowned Geneva-based real estate investment and services group, is also joining the group. Naef already manages a portfolio of residential properties worth over CHF 50 million on behalf of Foxstone.

Strengthened governance

As a result of its belief in the importance of strong governance with diversified profiles and relevant experience (real estate, banking, investments) in Switzerland and internationally, Foxstone now has a five-person Board of Directors. Thierry Baudon, Stefan Schürmann (Vaudoise Insurance Group) and Ivan Schouker join the Board of Directors, with the latter assuming the role of independent Chairman. Foxstone's financial management is also strengthened with the addition of Isabelle Schirmer as CFO, who has 30 years of international experience in corporate strategy and development, mergers and acquisitions and venture capital.

"Foxstone is democratising and providing access to real estate investment to the general public. The company is a leader in its sector and has a proven track record of success. We are very pleased to be working with Foxstone, a company that has earned the trust of its investors by delivering real results. We will support and advise the management team, which has great ambitions in a sector where we see strong growth potential," explains Thierry Baudon.

"The Vaudoise Insurance Group has been a partner of Foxstone and its team since the beginning. We are very pleased with this round of financing, which takes the company into a whole new category. The establishment of institutional governance will play an important role in the development of the company," says Stefan Schürmann, Head of Corporate Development and M&A at the Vaudoise Insurance Group.

Future developments

Foxstone plans to consolidate its business in the German speaking part of Switzerland and to implement the tokenisation of real estate assets, which will make this asset class fully accessible and liquid. Eventually, Foxstone aims to create a fully digitalized marketplace dedicated to real estate, where anyone will be able to trade parts of securitized properties as well as loan securities to real estate developers starting at CHF 1'000 in a few clicks from their smartphone. At the same time, the company will remain true to its core business by continuing to deploy technology solutions that enable further automation of processes and analysis of an ever-increasing amount of data to identify the best investment opportunities.

"We are very proud of the work done by our teams and pleased to welcome new investors who share Foxstone's strategic vision and whose experience is a real asset. We look forward to developing new markets and more innovative and accessible products," said Dan Amar, CEO of Foxstone.

(Press release / SK)

Photo L-R: David El Eini, Dan Amar, Thierry Baudon, Isabelle Schirmer, Yossi Amar