Stunning comments from Swiss start-ups

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Crowd investment platform Oomnium has been creating excitement in the Swiss start-up scene for two weeks. Young companies can use the platform to sell company stock in the form of digital shares, thereby raising fresh capital from their crowd. That’s why we talk about mass investment in this context.

At the same time that Oomnium was launched, four companies launched a fundraising campaign. The best-known startup is the financial portal ElleXX, which was co-founded in 2021 by business journalist and former SRF presenter Patrizia Laeri (46). Three other start-ups include Parkn’Sleep, an Airbnb for camping enthusiasts, Nanimale, a vegan ice cream brand, and Yamo, a baby and toddler food specialist.

It is not possible to compare the four start-ups as they operate in completely different fields. What they all have in common is that they set themselves growth targets from high to very high. This is especially true for ElleXX and Parkn’Sleep. For this year, women around Patrizia Laeri predict sales of one million francs, an increase of more than 500 percent compared to 2022. In 2026, sales are expected to increase to 26.3 million francs.

High growth targets are reflected in the price charged for mass investment. ElleXX has listed up to 22,058 shares in Oomnium at CHF 136 each. This results in a valuation of 16 million francs, as there are 117,640 shares of ElleXX in total. Based on 2022 revenue, ElleXX’s valuation is based on an income fold of 88.

Parkn’Sleep’s sales multiplier is even higher. The Lucerne venture achieved net sales of CHF 28,000 in 2022 and the company value reached CHF 3.5 million. This results in a sales multiplier of 125. The camper platform also expects a sharp increase in revenue: 189,000 francs are targeted for the current year; In 2024 and 2025 there should already be 0.9 million 2.6 million francs.

Vegan ice cream brand Nanimale promises a not so steep growth curve. As a result of the sale of shares, the value of the young Zurich company was CHF 2.4 million. Measured against sales in 2022, the company’s multiplier is 19. Today this will likely be lower as Nanimale doubled sales in the first quarter of 2023. If the company meets its year-to-year sales target of 1.1 million, the sales multiplier will drop to 2.

High growth targets, high valuation

The sometimes very high ratings of start-ups raise questions. Do investors risk paying too much for stocks, especially as the valuations of startups have dropped significantly due to rising interest rates? You should be aware that Oomnium operates as a crowdfunding platform in a non-regulated region of the financial market. As the spokesperson for the authority said on demand, the platform does not have a license from Finma.

Rea Eggli (50) from the Oomnium platform says on request: “A prerequisite for a campaign with us is an independent, external probabilistic check of the offer.” In case of mass investment this test report should be published. But it’s up to the companies which business numbers they want to publish. You decide whether you want to show just the turnover or the income statement and balance sheet. It is also important that the plausibility check does not provide an assessment of whether growth targets are realistic.

“We recommend that companies publish their figures as transparently as possible so that interested investors can learn accordingly,” Eggli says. He adds: “Parkn’Sleep and Nanimale have released their latest deals as part of the campaign, while Yamo and ElleXX provide insight into investors on demand.”

Lukas Imhof, 42, CEO of Parkn’Sleep, said, “Transparency is paramount for investors investing in a digital platform. So it was clear to us that we needed to disclose as much as possible.” In the case of Parkn’Sleep, it was the balance sheet and income statement.

ElleXX CEO Patrizia Laeri left a question unanswered as to why ElleXX is publishing “only” sales and not additional financial figures. When asked why ElleXX has recently called itself fintech, Laeri also did not provide any details. The company described itself as “an independent financial media platform for women” when it launched in late October 2021. What is clear is that in the start-up world, a fintech is valued more than a media company.

Transparency seems to be paying off in Oomnium. With six days left in crowdfunding, Parkn’Sleep and Nanimale exceeded their minimum targets by 51 percent and 35 percent, respectively. ElleXX is currently 15 percent above the minimum target. It seems more difficult for Yamo: The baby food company was only able to collect half of the targeted amount.

* Journalist Beat Schmid (54) writes on financial matters for the Sunday newspaper. Tippinpoint.ch is the publisher of the online media.

Source :Blick