The top 50: Dominique Mégret, head, Swisscom Ventures
Dominique Mégret launched Swisscom Ventures (SCV), the corporate venture capital (CVC) arm of telecoms firm Swisscom, in 2007. The early-to-growth stage fund runs on an evergreen model where returns are reinvested in new portfolio companies. In addition, Swisscom Ventures raised two external funds of $200m in 2018 and $300m in 2022. These were financed 75% by institutional investors – 20 pension funds and family offices – and 25% by Swisscom as anchor investor.
SCV targets early to later-stage developers of IT, cloud and communication infrastructure building on the unit’s heritage, in addition to disruptive digital applications covering verticals such as e-health, fintech, telecoms, e-commerce, e-government, e-mobility, energy, precision agriculture, industry 4.0 and digital media.
Around half of the capital is being invested in the Swiss ecosystem while the remainder goes to markets SCV is familiar with, encompassing the US, Europe and Israel. Initial commitment per deal is between $1m and $5m at early-stage with follow-on investments of up to $30m per company.
SCV’s most recent investments include lead roles in the $20.6m venture round for Neo Medical, a medtech company devising solutions for spinal injuries. The unit has also participated in the $150m series D round for smart data capture firm Scandit as well as in the $84m series C raise for Cognism, a B2B sales acceleration specialist.
Mégret joined Swisscom in 2002 as head of the group strategy unit before he went on to create the CVC unit. Prior to that, He was an entrepreneur in the UK, a strategy consultant in the European telecoms industry, a country manager for a Germany-based IT company and also a co-founder of technology incubator Kick-Start Ventures. Mégret holds a bachelor’s degree from the European Partnership of Business Schools (EPBS) and an MBA from Insead.
