Fusion – the first-ever FinTech business incubator in Switzerland – exists to shape innovation in financial services by combining up-and-coming tech talent with Swiss state-of-the-art financial know-how. As a Fusion member, Notz Stucki is actively involved in the incubation process.
Discover our series “7 questions to a start-up” to get a feeling of who are the participants of the incubator Season 2!
7 questions to Dan Amar, founder of Foxstone.
Foxstone is a Swiss real estate crowdfunding platform. We offer individuals and investment firms a unique opportunity to access one of the strongest real estate market in the world. Thanks to a deep network of sector professionals, we source and propose fully vetted investment opportunities of institutional quality. We leverage the power of our community of investors to raise funds online, co-invest and share the returns.
Foxstone aims to democratize real estate investments in Switzerland.The disruption comes from the reduced minimum investment amount which effectively allows everybody to participate, starting from CHF 25’000. Foxstone takes charge of the whole acquisition process and performs all asset management tasks during the lifetime of the deal. The only thing you have to do is to select the opportunity, wire the funds and collect your returns
1/ Who are you?
I was born and raised in Geneva, Switzerland. I worked in different real estate oriented family offices and in a private equity fund. I launched my first company software development company back in 2011. Later I moved to New York City to deploy European family offices money in hedge funds, private equity funds, venture capital funds, real estate and startups.
I am a kind of artist. I like to dream, to create, to invent. I love cooking, this is the best creations, you can eat them with your friends!
I practice road cycling, always climbing, never stop, never ever give up even under difficult conditions. An excellent exercise to be strong minded.
I do play soccer and meanwhile, manage the team on the field. My position: attacker. My role: to close! Closing is the best sensation, could be a goal, could be a deal!
I came back in Geneva to launch one of the most exciting projects I have worked on: Foxstone.
2/ What does your company do?
Foxstone offers individuals and investment firms a unique opportunity to enter proprietary high quality Swiss real estate investments, directly form the web platform, starting from only CHF25’000. It gives the opportunity to investors to diversify their portfolios into a panel of direct real estate co-ownership, co-investment in development projects or mezzanine debt without traditional large minimum investment amounts.
3/ What’s the founding story behind Foxstone?
I have been in the Real Estate for the last 15 years. During this period I personally witnessed high returns and mitigated risk, but I also understood it wasn’t accessible to everybody, for a lot of different reasons: you need a ton of cash, as a non-professional you get bad quality deals and finally it is a full-time job. I realized it is a top quality investment option, robust during a crisis, and has a mitigated risk involved, yet, inaccessible to most of us. I believed I could find a way to open to each and every one of us the access to real estate investment in Switzerland.
4/ What was your proudest moment in your company’s history so far?
Fintech Fusion DemoDay, even if I had to improvise a bit, to the damn of Fusion CEO, Sal Mattheis. I love improvisation.
I was also proud the day Foxstone receive the debt ruling from the FINMA, a big step.
5/ What’s the vision behind Foxstone?
Our vision is to develop online real estate investments in Switzerland applying institutional experience approach in terms of sourcing, underwriting and asset management. The vision is to revamp dinosaurs ways of acquiring, investing, financing and managing real estate thanks to state of the art technologies and revolutionizing methods and partnerships.
6/ What’s your biggest challenge right now?
You know the three “L” in real estate: Location, Location, Location. In Switzerland, we have the three “R”: Regulation, Regulation, Regulation. I believe it has been created by humans so it can be solved by human!
Regulation is extremely complex. On the other hand, it is a wonderful entry barrier and an additional security framework for investors.
7/ Is there any inspirational saying or words of encouragement you want to share with other creative/disruptive professionals?
Sure. I like both of them:
“Optimism, Pessimism, fuck that; We are going to make it happen!”, Elon Musk
“I didn’t know it was impossible, so I did it”, Mark Twain & Mickael Kattan
Twitter: @fintechfusion,
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/foxstone.ch/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/10981830/
https://twitter.com/FoxstoneCrowd
Photos & Text: Dan Amar