DemoSquare secures CHF 1.2 million pre-seed funding to transform global political monitoring with AI

August 6, 2024

Lausanne, Switzerland – August 6, 2024 – DemoSquare, an EPFL spinoff developing AI technologies to help companies anticipate political and regulatory changes, has secured CHF 1.2 million in pre-seed funding from Swiss and German investors. The round, led by Zurich-based QBIT Capital, will accelerate the startup’s expansion to the European markets. Co-investor High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), one of the leading early-stage investors in Europe, is supporting this expansion with its strong network of major corporations.

With political uncertainties and regulatory trends on the rise globally, every company must monitor legislative changes carefully – or accept to expose their business to critical risks. DemoSquare is an AI-powered SaaS platform that enables companies to navigate regulatory complexities efficiently and stay ahead of legislation. The EPFL spinoff is based on the PhD research in machine learning and artificial intelligence of its founders, Dr. Victor Kristof (CEO) and Dr. Jérémie Rappaz (CTO).

Counting multinational companies and major public institutions among its first customers in Switzerland, DemoSquare developed innovative tools to search among thousands of legislative procedures, to receive alerts on regulatory developments, to identify relevant political stakeholders, and to predict the adoption of new laws. The CHF 1.2 million pre-seed round, led by Zurich-based QBIT Capital who co-invested with the German High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), will pave the way for expanding their solution to European markets, starting with influential EU institutions.

We are thrilled to announce the closing of this first funding round one year after launching DemoSquare, and we are honored to count such impactful investors onboard. This is a gratifying validation for our team’s efforts and a testimony to our ambitions. The investment will now support us in reaching our next goal: To deploy our cutting-edge solution to public-affairs teams in Europe.

Victor Kristof, DemoSquare’s co-founder and CEO

Victor and Jérémie are visionary entrepreneurs poised to redefine industry standards. By leveraging the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning to monitor and analyze complex activities, they are addressing significant industry challenges with groundbreaking innovation. We are excited to be part of their journey and look forward to seeing their full potential unfold.

Georges Khneysser, QBIT Capital’s founder

We invested in DemoSquare because data and AI can play a major role in bringing more transparency and predictability into law-making processes. This is key in a current dense regulatory environment for political stakeholders and corporates alike, and we are excited to back Victor and Jérémie who have the perfect academic and tech background for building this company.

Daniela Bach, principal at HTGF

As exhibited by cases such as Uber, Airbnb, and recently Nvidia, regulatory risks can disrupt business operations in a blink. Governmental-affairs teams are becoming increasingly prominent in most companies, and DemoSquare’s technology will empower them to tackle upcoming regulatory challenges at a fraction of cost.

About DemoSquare
DemoSquare is an EPFL spinoff that develops state-of-the-art artificial-intelligence algorithms to help companies anticipate political and regulatory changes through a cutting-edge user interface. It counts multinational companies and major public institutions among its first customers in Switzerland. Headquartered in Lausanne, the company was co-founded in 2023 by Dr. Victor Kristof (CEO) and Dr. Jérémie Rappaz (CTO). In 2024, DemoSquare raised a CHF 1.2 million pre-seed round with VC investors QBIT Capital and HTGF to expand its activities to European markets.

Media Enquiries
Victor Kristof
Co-founder & CEO of DemoSquare
victor@demosquare.ch
https://demosquare.ch

About QBIT Capital
Founded in Zurich by Georges Khneysser, QBIT Capital is a venture capital firm dedicated to supporting startups in Switzerland. With an active investment approach, QBIT aims to provide value to its portfolio companies by collaborating with Active Investors and forming strategic partnerships with industry experts like Speedinvest Pirates and TiCapital. The firm exclusively focuses on Swiss companies, leveraging a global network for the benefit of its portfolio. For more information, visit www.qbitcapital.xyz.

About High-Tech Gründerfonds  
The seed investor High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) finances tech start-ups with growth potential and has supported more than 750 start-ups since 2005. In its four seed funds, HTGF has about 1.4 billion euros under management. Its team of experienced investment managers and start-up experts support young companies with expertise, entrepreneurial spirit and passion. HTGF’s focus is on high-tech start-ups in the fields of digital tech, industrial tech, life sciences, chemistry and related business areas. To date, external investors have injected about 6 billion euros of capital into the HTGF portfolio via more than 2,000 follow-on financing rounds. In addition, HTGF has already successfully sold shares in more than 180 companies.
Fund investors in this public-private partnership include the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, KfW Capital and 45 companies from a wide range of industries.

Media contact 
High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH 
Tobias Jacob, Senior Marketing & Communications Manager  
T.: +49 228 – 82300 – 121
t.jacob@htgf.de