How did you start your entrepreneurial adventure?
I have a background in the financial sector in Switzerland, as a Portfolio Manager. When I moved to Luxembourg in 2015 to set up an investment division of a family office, it gave me an insight into the complexity of the operations that are at the core of Luxembourg’s financial industry. I found out that a large proportion of processes and activities were still handled manually. When enquiring why, I discovered that fund managers rely on data from different service providers that are neither standardised nor harmonised, which makes it very difficult to digitise and automate processes. I was convinced that the hurdles could be overcome with the right technology so I joined forces with a colleague, data analytics expert Semin Ibisevic, to develop an in-house solution for our own needs. Realising that the technology could serve many players in the industry, we decided to create Next Gate Tech in 2019 to further develop that technology which would bring the missing piece of the puzzle to fund industry operations.
Why did you decide to stay in Luxembourg once you had entered the European/international market?
We initially decided to create the company in Luxembourg for 2 main reasons: one because Luxembourg, being the second biggest fund industry in the world after the US, would allow us to find the right talents for our company and second, because Luxembourg offers the right framework to support start-ups growth. The support we receive from Luxemburgish private and public entities such as Luxinnovation, the Lhoft or the ministry of the economy help us structure the company and grow it. In the meantime, we have created a healthy network of clients, prospects, advisors and partners in Luxembourg and our employees are in Luxembourg so it felt somehow natural to keep our main location in Luxembourg.
What are now your plans for the future of Next Gate Tech?
We want to become the leader in data management for the fund industry and for this, Innovation and expansion are key!
On the innovation side, we will continue to invest in Research and Development to improve our machine learning processes and create the best analytics for our clients. We are also expanding the capabilities of the platform since we have recently added ESG analytics to our core proposition and are now working on additional portfolio managers oversight analytics. On the expansion side, the Company continues to grow very fast, we are hiring new people in Luxembourg and abroad since we have recently opened an office in London to support our international expansion.
