Findependent: Growing a FinTech Through Simplicity, Frugality, and Steady Steps

Findependent, with its investment app, is a Swiss fintech company, remarkable in several respects. Its market entry in 2021 wasn’t exactly a resounding success, as the company launched with three investment strategies and a manageable number of ETFs. This was not entirely different from other investment apps already on the market at that time.

What was different was that founder Matthias Bryner almost mantra-like emphasized the uncomplicated, carefree, and “simple” investing via his app. And cost-effective, too. This mantra clearly caught on; to date, more than 25,000 investors have chosen Findependent over the competition.

The strategy of small steps

The FinTech company has been very economical with its limited investment capital. With 150,000 Swiss francs from investor Roland Brack from the German TV show “Die Höhle der Löwen” (Shark Tank) in 2021, and an additional 1.2 million Swiss francs from a seed funding round in 2022, Bryner has built his startup in numerous small steps and continuously expanded the business.

These enhancements included new products, reaching new customer groups, optimized and faster onboarding, personalized customer support, further reductions in already low fees, and more. All of this resulted in Findependent regularly ranking among the top-rated and most affordable investment apps in comparisons and analyses conducted by independent comparison services.

Findependent’s large funding round, without increasing the step size

In June 2024, Findependent received CHF 1.5 million in growth funding from its existing investors. Simultaneously, the FinTech launched a crowdfunding campaign. The initial funding target of CHF 2 million was raised to CHF 3 million within just a few hours and shortly thereafter to CHF 5 million.

In this financing round, the planned public financing round with the participation of non-customers was cancelled because the participation certificates for over 5 million Swiss francs were exclusively subscribed by existing customers who wanted to invest in their investment app.

Bryner commented on this success by remarking that his FinTech company would no longer need to concern itself with fundraising in the coming years, but could instead focus entirely on the further development of the company and the app. And, remarkably, he achieved this with a still small team of ten people.

Authorization as an account-holding securities firm

In a rare and significant step, Findependent has recently received authorization from FINMA to operate as an account-holding securities firm. This will make investing even easier for clients – to return to the mantra that they will now have an account and their securities portfolio directly with Findependent.

Without an external custodian bank, processes are streamlined, and Findependent now operates not only as an asset manager but also as an account-holding institution, independently managing accounts and securities portfolios. The FinTech company proudly points out that, as an account-holding securities firm, Findependent now meets the same requirements for equity capital, liquidity, and cybersecurity as a bank.

Findependent intends to continue its collaboration behind the scenes with Hypothekarbank Lenzburg, which has supported the FinTech as a reliable banking partner from the very beginning.

Taking small steps doesn’t mean baking small bread

Long distances can clearly be covered even with small steps. The goals remain ambitious, but they are pursued and achieved in a way that conserves capital and resources. In plain terms, this means that investor capital is not squandered, but rather used prudently and responsibly to ensure continuous growth.

Part of these growth targets is a Pillar 3a investment solution, which is scheduled to be launched in the second half of 2026.

Findependent is not a FinTech company that settles for small-scale operations. However, the company achieves its goals without an oversized operation with a large workforce. Too expensive and therefore potentially dangerous for startups.

A strategy that seems to work and increases the FinTech’s scope for action through lean cost accounting.

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(Featured image by Claudio Schwarz via Unsplash)

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First published in MoneyToday.ch. A third-party contributor translated and adapted the article from the original. In case of discrepancy, the original will prevail.

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