Currently, assets such as real estate, stocks or cars can be financed, however, the luxury market especially the watch, has been neglected yet the market continues to grow year on year. The annual retail turnover of luxury watches is about CHF 50 billion while the pre-owned market transacts around CHF 20 billion.
Through Yourasset, Stephan Kolz, Founder and Chief Executive Officer & Founder, Gabriel Tanguay (Chief Technology Officer), and Meera Anand Chief Marketing Officer close this gap by allowing its clients to tap into the locked-up equity capital of their existing collection or to finance their next purchase. The platform provides fully regulated financing payment solutions in Switzerland and other markets for luxury watch brands, authorized retailers, and pre-owned merchants that can be easily integrated in-store or online. The company also provides a range of other services to its business partners and to direct customers.
The company was founded based on the principle that hard luxury goods, especially fine watches, now behave like assets rather than the long-held belief of some that they are simple consumer goods. The solutions are backed by trusted banking and insurance institutions in each country we service.
Recently, the company successfully completed its first external funding round, raising a USD 7-figure amount. Lead investor Moshe Schlisser was joined by a Zurich-based Family Office and various angel investors.
“This successful funding round is an important milestone for the company, and I am delighted with our team’s efforts to get us to the next level. The question I asked at the outset was why other assets, such as real estate, cars and stocks can be financed, but not watches despite sharing similar characteristics. Yourasset corners the market in terms of creating an intuitive ecosystem around watch collecting, in a way that unlocks their equity capital while creating thus far non-existent options to finance one’s current collection, a first or next purchase.”
Lead investor, Moshe Schlisser, added, “Immediately upon meeting Stephan and the Yourasset team, I was impressed with the comprehensiveness of their platform, and all the pain points it effectively solves for its users and partners. It is a privilege to bet on this team early on and I am looking forward to helping them disrupt the $100 billion per year watch industry.”
Securing client data with Microsoft Azure in Switzerland.
Yourasset is a member of the Microsoft for Startups community in Switzerland, leveraging their IT infrastructure, Azure cloud technology and support, while collaborating on multiple levels to continue growing the company.
Giovanna Dughera, Community Manager for Microsoft for Startups in Switzerland, said, “Microsoft for Startups exists to support companies such as Yourasset to successfully scale their business by leveraging our cloud services, mentoring program and marketplace along the way. Yourasset empowers the luxury market and its clients through its unique way of combining the emotion of fine watches with technology. Its progress has created an immense buzz within our team in Switzerland and we cannot wait to see where they go next.”
(Press release/RAN)