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From University Spin-Off to Success: The NetGuardians Story
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Welcome to this episode of Ventures From The Valley. Join hosts Victor and Tom as they sit down with NetGuardians co-founders, Joël Winteregg and Raffael Maio, to explore their 15+ year journey from university spin-off to fintech success. They discuss navigating pivots, raising over $40M, scaling internationally, and ultimately selling their company. Whether you're a founder, investor, or fintech enthusiast, this episode offers key lessons on strategic decision-making, co-founder dynamics, and sustainable growth.
What you will learn:
- How to build and maintain a successful co-founder relationship through trust
- The evolution from university spin-off to market leader in banking fraud prevention
- Why Swiss startups might need to look beyond their domestic market
- How to navigate fundraising rounds totaling €50M while maintaining founder control
- The "Transparency with Strategy" framework for leading teams
- How to transition from a fundraising-focused mindset to business growth orientation
- The importance of establishing robust sales operations
- Why having multiple contingency plans (Plan B, C) is crucial for startup survival
Joël Winteregg and Rafael Vega are the co-founders of NetGuardians, a Swiss-based fintech company specializing in AI-powered fraud prevention and anti-money laundering solutions for banks. As technical founders with engineering backgrounds, they built NetGuardians from a university research project in 2007 into a leading financial crime prevention platform. The company has successfully expanded from Switzerland into the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific regions, leveraging its innovative behavioral analytics technology to protect financial institutions. With over 15 years of partnership, Joël (CEO) and Rafael (Strategy Lead) have navigated multiple pivots, fundraising rounds totaling approximately $50 million, and ultimately led NetGuardians to a successful private equity acquisition.
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