EP #507 - Laurent Frésard: Should Swiss VCs Raise Money from Pension Funds?

This episode was co-produced with the⁠ Deep Tech Nation Switzerland Foundation⁠.

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About Laurent Frésard:

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⁠Laurent Frésard⁠ is a professor of finance at USI and the Swiss Finance Institute, and a pension fund board member, whose research has been published in several leading academic journals. He holds a PhD in Finance from Université de Neuchâtel.

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Laurent joined Merle to discuss the topic of investing pension funds in startups through Swiss VC funds. Although most Swiss pension funds are currently invested in bonds, stocks, real estate and cash, 5% of it goes into private equity or private debt. There are, however, some caveats to this type of investment: the investment must be made in entities located in Switzerland, and money cannot be borrowed to increase the size of the investment. 

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Laurent argues that more Swiss pension fund money should be invested in Swiss startups, in a risk-controlled environment, to help bridge the funding gap for growth-stage Swiss startups. He warns that investment choices must not be network/politically based, but instead driven by neutral market expertise. Laurent and Merle also discussed the possibility of creating a “fund of funds”, meaning a fund of startup investing experts who would invest the money trusted to them by pension fund investors. 

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