Forestay Capital: Support for growth

Start-ups on the way to dominating a market worldwide are few and far between in Switzerland. Those that seek to achieve this goal were until recently dependent on foreign funding. But now Swiss investors are increasingly providing more money for the growth phase of tech companies. One of Switzerland’s largest new funds is Forestay Capital, the first vehicle created under the umbrella of Waypoint Capital for investment in tech companies. The thematic focus includes enterprise software, data-driven business models, fintech, cloud computing and IT infrastructure, with a focus on growth companies that are already generating sales.

The fund, which with Waypoint has only one limited partner (LP) as the lender, but still offers a professional structure, started operations just over a year ago. It plans to invest in five companies every year. In the first year, this plan was fully observed. “We have shown that we can compete in the market,” comments Frederic Wohlwend, Managing Partner of Forestay Capital.

Forestay’s resources not only make it an interesting investor for young growth companies, it also has the flexibility of a family office and an entrepreneurial background. Wohlwend was the long-time CIO at Serono and, as such, has had a long-term working relationship with Ernesto Bertarelli. “We have shown that we know how to bring companies on to a growth course,” he says.

Investing in Swiss companies
The fund intends to invest 25% in Switzerland. “Switzerland has wonderful technology,” explains Wohlwend. Until now, there has been a lack of funds for later stage financing along with the right mindset. But the availability of funds is improving and that’s why Wohlwend's message to the ecosystem is: “Let’s think global!”

Forestay has made two investments in this country over the past year: the fund participated in Nexthink’s USD 85 million financing round, and has also invested in BlueBotics, which manufactures robot control software and can now use its new resources to tackle global expansion. The latter, Forestay explained, was an attractive investment because of the technology and business model that makes BlueBotics a pure software company.

Forestay wants to build a portfolio of 10 to 15 companies by 2022. Although the fund does not have a deadline, as a general rule participations should not be kept for longer than four to five years. The portfolio companies should have made their breakthrough within this time horizon.