BDO and BEKB acquire stakes in daura
Stefan Gerber (Partner BDO), Peter Schnürer (CEO daura ag), Armin Brun (CEO BEKB)
BDO and Berner Kantonalbank AG (BEKB) enter a strategic investment in daura ag. The collaboration is intended to further strengthen the daura ecosystem for digital SME shares.
With BEKB and BDO, two renowned companies with a focus on the Swiss SME market are acquiring a stake in daura ag. Via the daura ag application, small, medium-sized and established companies from Switzerland can digitize shares with the help of blockchain technology.
BEKB already announced in a media release in September 2020 that they are developing a technical infrastructure for the issuance and trading of digital assets with the support of daura ag and other partners. Today, BEKB informs in another media release that it is going live with its digital marketplace under the name SME|X and a first issuer, Cow Level AG.
BDO, one of the leading auditing, trust and consulting firms in Switzerland, has been a strategic partner of daura since March 2019. Specifically, BDO already advises clients on the advantages of digital shares and their complementary services. Now, during a strategic investment, the partnership will be further intensified and integrated into BDO’s digitalisation strategy.
The partners do not provide any information on the scope and amount of the participations.
Strategic cooperation with BEKB
The strategic partnership between BEKB and daura is a clear win-win situation: For daura as an infrastructure service provider in the primary market area, the cooperation with BEKB means an essential addition to its existing range of services, which it can offer to its end customers. Through the SME|X marketplace, daura customers gain access to the secondary market, through which digital shares can be traded and held in custody. For BEKB, in turn, the cooperation provides access to the primary market for digital SME shares. As part of the participation, a representative of BEKB will take a seat on the daura board of directors.
«In the cooperation with daura, the market leader for the issuance of tokenized shares has distinguished itself as an outspoken decision-maker. Therefore, we are convinced that in the future we will be able to shape the opportunities of the digital world even better and more flexibly in this partnership ecosystem», says Armin Brun, CEO of BEKB. «Through the strategic cooperation with BEKB, we enable our clients and their shareholders to access the attractive SME|X marketplace. At the same time, we are making digital shares investable for BEKB clients», adds Peter Schnürer, CEO of daura ag.
Strategic cooperation with BDO
As part of its digitalisation strategy, BDO can increasingly offer the digital share register, digital general assemblies and tokenized shares to its clients. Specifically, the integration into the digital SME platform «HelloNina» and into BDO’s online offering is planned. «As a company that has set itself the goal of constantly driving the innovation chain, BDO’s service portfolio in SME consulting can be additionally expanded with the daura offering», says Thomas Studhalter, CEO of BDO.
daura expands market position
In addition to the capital participation of BDO and BEKB, the existing shareholders SIX, Swisscom and Sygnum Bank also participated in the investment round.
With the capital, daura plans to further expand the application and strengthen its sales activities. «With BDO and BEKB, we have gained two innovative partners who have enormous experience and reputation in the Swiss SME market. “Thanks to our strong starting position as the operator of the leading application for the issuance and management of digital SME shares, we are now in a position, together with the range of services offered by our partners, to provide fully digitalized offerings throughout the entire life cycle of a public limited company. A company can independently issue its shares and bring them to a digital marketplace at the touch of a button», says Peter Schnürer, CEO of daura ag.
For questions
Marcel Rohrer (Partner BDO)
E-Mail: marcel.rohrer@bdo.ch
Mobile: 079 639 59 65
Florian Kurz (Head of Media Relations Berner Kantonalbank)
E-Mail: florian.kurz@bekb.ch
Tel: 031 666 10 15
Peter Schnürer (CEO daura AG)
E-Mail: peter.schnuerer@daura.ch
Mobile: 079 227 18 89
About BDO
BDO Ltd is one of the leading audits, business services and advisory firms in Switzerland. We offer services in our core areas of expertise: audit, financial services, business services and outsourcing, tax and legal advisory, and management consulting. With 34 offices in Switzerland, BDO’s network offers the most extensive coverage in the industry. For BDO’s people – around 1,500 professionals – close links and expertise are the key to successful and lasting relationships with our clients. BDO Ltd audits and advises industrial and service sector companies, including SMEs, listed companies, public authorities and non-profit organizations. For clients with an international focus, BDO draws on a global organization spanning more than 160 countries. BDO Ltd has its head office in Zurich and is an independent, legally separate Swiss firm belonging to the international BDO network, whose head office is in Brussels (Belgium).
Find out more: www.bdo.ch
About Berner Kantonalbank
BEKB is strongly anchored in the cantons of Berne and Solothurn with around 470,000 customers, over 1,200 employees and 80 locations. As a classic universal bank, it offers comprehensive solutions for paying, saving, investing, financing and providing for the future. The bank sees itself as a competent and entrepreneurial partner for companies and private individuals.
Find out more: www.bekb.ch
About daura
The technology company daura AG provides small, medium-sized and established companies from Switzerland with an application through which they can issue their shares digitally on a blockchain infrastructure. By using the daura application, the processing of capital increases becomes cheaper, the administration of the share register is simpler, general assemblies become more efficient and wide circles of people can be bound to the company with digital shares. Users registered on the application gain access to new participation opportunities in Swiss companies and can manage their company shares digitally themselves.
Find out more: www.daura.ch
